Draconic Skies
by FirePhoenix342
Summary: Naruto, Hinata, and Lee are all given training by a group of people who no one has ever heard of before. When they return what will have changed for these kids? Shit summary, please read! OOC Naruto, Hinata, Lee.
1. A World away from Home

For the people who follow me for other stories, I know I started another story that I may or may not finish readily. This is something I needed to get out and I liked it so I wanted to publish it. I have started work on all the other stories that I have yet to finish, and I will get those out as soon as possible. Also, Naruto Hinata and Lee will all be OC. This chapter takes place before the Chuunin exams, and continues to afterwards.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the characters belong to Kishimoto, whom I've started to forgive for a lot of the things he's done during Naruto. This story may not follow canon to a T but it should for the most part. Changes here and there.

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The Village Hidden in the Leaves was peaceful on this particular day. Civilians wandered about the streets, content with the weather, while tending to their everyday doings. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the town, away from the prying eyes of travelers and other wayward ninja, a few of the town's ninja sparred lightly under the tutelage of their Jounin teacher.

"Naruto, we need to work on your speed. The hits mean nothing, no matter how powerful, if they don't actually hit." The man stated to the young blonde, who glanced up just in time to take a strong round house kick to the face.

"We also need to work on your attention span." The teacher muttered, taking his eyes off of his book in time to see the boy hit the ground.

"Kakashi, this is pointless. Naruto will never be as good as my Sasuke. Its not worth your time." The pink haired female member of the group voiced.

"That is not true Sakura. Naruto can be very beneficial, he just needs help." Kakashi muttered, almost distractedly as he glanced into the bushes nearby. A chakra signature had appeared somewhere in the middle of their spar, and while he knew it was another genin, he hadn't met this one before.

"Well, I think that's enough for today, meet here tomorrow by 8 o'clock sharp. And don't be late." He spoke one last time and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Sasuke! Want to go on a date with me?!" The girl shouted as her "beloved" jumped away briskly. Naruto, who had been knocked unconscious by the powerful blow to the head, lay on the ground where he'd been left.

"Oh Naruto…" A quiet and meek voice came from where Kakashi had glanced at. A small girl exited the brush and slowly made her way over to where the boy lay. This girl was Hinata Hyuuga. The "heiress" to the Hyuuga Clan. However, she was weak, and had too kind of a heart to fight, and was deemed unfit for the title.

"I can't believe they did this again." She muttered to herself. Hinata wore a mask in public, figuratively of course. She was stronger than she seemed, and did not actually stutter. However, because of how she was treated by her father and her family members, gained two faces. A face she never let anyone see, and the mask she covered it with. As the girl prepared to treat him however, an ANBU ninja appeared nearby.

"The Hokage wishes to see you and Uzumaki-kun." Hinata nodded, placed her hand on the fallen boys shoulder, and felt the ANBU shunshin back to the tower. When they reached their destination, the Hokage, an older man by the name of Hiruzen Sarutobi, paused for a moment before he spoke.

"Why is Naruto unconscious? I asked you to bring him in without hurting him!" The older ninja demanded.

"Sir, it was not her fault. Naruto-kun was knocked unconscious while he was distracted by Kakashi-sensei during a sparring match with Uchiha-san." Hinata stood up for the nervous ANBU. A quick thank you hand signal behind her back the ANBU confirmed the story.

"I apologize Panther-san, I was quick to judge without thought." He apologized and waved her off.

"Now, I have received a rather mysterious mission scroll from outside the village addressed to both you and Naruto. However, I would much rather going over its contents if both of you were awake." Sarutobi stated, and proceeded to wake Naruto up.

"HUH?! WHAT?!" He jolted up from where he was sitting in the chair in front of the Hokage's desk. Hinata barely held her laugh back as the blonde ninja looked around.

"Oh! Hey there Oji-ji! What's up?" He asked after realizing he was in the office.

"I have a mission for you two, however I am very concerned about sending you both without an escort, mostly because it is against the rules for genin to leave unescorted." The man replied with a sigh. And the council will never let Naruto leave the village without their permission. Before the two genin in question could respond however, there was a knock on the door.

"Yes?" The Hokage asked. The door opened, and a man stepped in. This man had a blue cloak on his shoulders, covering his back down to the middle of his calves. He wore a simple fighters tunic with leather armor above, and a pair of black pants. His shoes were strong, and made of leather as well, showing that they'd been used quite often, but were not worn out yet. His face was round, with blonde colored scruff growing on his chin. His hair was blonde as well, wavy and pulled into a low pony tail that went to the middle of his back. Purple eyes, narrow but gentle, shown from behind dirt that seemed to pepper his face. His lips were narrow, and while he seemed to take care of himself, dust covered a good portion of his clothing.

"I will escort the two young ones." The man stated simply, not introducing himself at all.

"I do not know who you are, but if you think you can just walk into my office and try and take these two 13 year old children away from where they are safe, you are sorely mistaken." The old ninja stood up preparing to fight. The mysterious man smiled, showing bright white teeth, with slightly pointed canines, and shook his head.

"I am the sender of that scroll. I wished to speak with you in person as to what I needed these two children for. I realized their safety was important to you, and so I thought to come here and explain."

"I still do not know your name." Sarutobi sighed and glanced at the two genin. Hinata was weary of the man, and she had every right to be, while Naruto seemed excited and curious as to who and why the man was interested in him.

"I am Andreas Valevar. Draconic Prince under the Rule of the Sky. Fancy titles meaning I am the head of the temple." He smiled at the end, showing his teeth one more time.

"I am here to train young Naruto to be a Draconic Knight." The Hokage nodded slowly, still taking in the information given to him. He'd heard of the Rule of the Sky before. It was almost comparable to a Hidden Village, however no one had ever actually seen it before so "Hidden" wasn't taken lightly.

"And what of Hinata? You only mentioned Naruto." The older man sighed.

"I cannot take her to the Rule of the Sky, because that is an order of men only. However, I know someone in the Rule of Water who wishes to train our young girl. My good friend Talise M'ai is the Lady of the Water. She wished for the young girl to be brought to her for training." Hinata's eyes widened slightly. Someone had wished to train her? Someone who seemed so important?! Sarutobi gauged the girls reaction and decided then that maybe it would be good for the two outcasts to be trained.

"I originally only thought of these two young ones, however there is a third that I would like to bring along with us as well. He goes by the name Rock Lee. And he would fit magnificently in the Order of the Earth, under the tutelage of Greyleaf Alderblade, Master of the Earth." Andreas added, holding out another scroll to the Hokage.

"This child has no chakra coils, he wouldn't be able to learn anything that involves chakra."

"I understand that Hokage-sama, that is why this Order would be perfect for his training. None of the branches of our society use chakra. We are not ninja. We use a different source of power, and for each branch that source is different. For that Order in particular it uses Earth Energy, which we can tell that child has an abundance of because he has connected somewhat to it with his clothing style and fighting style. He would make a great Earth Warrior. Just as young Naruto would make a great Knight, and Hinata would make a great Maiden. There is a place for these children where they would not be seen as outcasts. Or monsters." The prince added the last statement onto the end of his lecture, casting a quick glance at Naruto. Sarutobi sighed. He knew that the kids this society had chosen were outcasts. They did not fit into the standard for the village. An heiress to a clan who was too gentle to rule, a boy who could not use chakra even as a ninja, and a boy who held a burden that most people would never wish on their enemies.

"When must you leave. And for how long will they be gone." The statements were not questions. They held power behind them, and an unspoken promise for a world of hurt should anything happen to the children.

"We must away today, after they are given the chance to say goodbye to their friends. They will be back before the Exams you are holding next month."

"How will that be enough time for you to train them? That is less than a month in time!" Sarutobi roared. This man was making a mockery of these children.

"We have our methods and they are just as protected in our society as your 'clan techniques' are to you here in Konoha. We will train them. They will get stronger. They will prove themselves to be stronger than this village has given them credit for. I assure you." A dangerous calm gathered around the man that stood before them. Naruto shook with anticipation. He couldn't wait to prove to the village that he was there to help, and not to hurt. There was so much that he wanted to learn, and he wouldn't need chakra for it which made it even better! Hinata felt conflicted. She knew that if she told her father of what she was doing, not only would he ridicule her for seeking help from outside the clan, but Neji-kun would say something about it being the right of a MAIN house member to be given special training. She couldn't fathom what it would be like returning. However, on the other side, she was excited, with the prospect of proving to her family that she is strong, that being kind and gentle did not mean she was weak. Andreas was picking up on their feelings of anticipation, and knew that these children would grow to make their village proud.

"You all are dismissed. I would like to speak with Valevar-san just a little more before you set off. Go pack, let your family and friends know of what is happening, and when you are ready, meet at the gate." Sarutobi stamped the scrolls officially and called an ANBU into his office.

"I want you to bring this scroll to Lee-kun. He should be training with Might Guy, around training grounds 13 if you are lucky to find them there."

"I want you to know, that when these children return, they will be better adapted to working together than they will with the teams they currently have. You may want to make the proper arrangements." Andreas stated after the genin and the ANBU had left.

"I understand." Sarutobi nodded. Walking out of the tower, Naruto gave his best foxy grin to the cute girl next to him. Sakura was a fun person to be around when she wasn't beating him up and trying to fawn over Sasuke, but he'd started to realize that she wasn't at all interested in him. Hinata however had been a good friend lately, helping him heal faster, making him feel better for making mistakes while his own team would ridicule him. Therein developed a friendship. He started to talk to her more, paid her more attention and she started to come out of her shell. Soon they came upon his apartment, and Naruto bid her farewell. He'd tried to make as little noise getting back into the building, due to the fact that he would be abused if the neighbors were given the chance to catch him before he'd gotten through the door. Without having a lot of money in the past, Naruto had bough what clothes he could, same for food. While he love Ichiraku's, he knew that it wasn't healthy for him to eat all the time. Without money, it made it hard to eat as well as he needed to. As he finished packing what little he'd had, there was a very noisy knock on his door. Normally the only people who knocked were ANBU and his team, and he had a sneaking suspicion of who was there. Being smarter than he'd let on had its ups and downs. People didn't take him seriously, which worked both in his favor and against it. He could get away with stupid shit because they didn't think he knew the consequences, while in reality he did. On that same note, people thought he needed more lecturing than normal, and tried to treat him like a smaller child than he was.

"I'm coming, just give me a minute." He called, putting some of the clothes that he had into the backpack he'd been packing. On the other side of the door stood both Sakura and Sasuke.

"Hey! Come on in, I'm just packing." Naruto opened the door wide enough to allow his teammates to enter. Sakura looked at the ground hesitantly, while Sasuke hadn't even bothered to look at Naruto.

"Hey Naruto, we actually came here for something else." Sakura started seemingly nicely however Sasuke but in.

"We want you to stop being a ninja. You are a failure, you slow me down and you annoy her with your constant asking about dates, you will never make it in the ninja world." The black haired boy said frankly.

"Is that really how both of you feel?" Naruto asked, not able to think of a cheery response to the request. Sakura opened her mouth to say something, however she shut it again a moment later.

"I see. Well, I guess its for the best that I'm going on this trip then. Maybe Kakashi will give you both some better training as well." Naruto sighed, and before Sasuke could ask about the training trip, Naruto shut the door in their faces. He was upset that his own team wouldn't try to help him get better, and were more willing to just drop him altogether. It was then that Naruto vowed that he would train hard, become a Draconic Knight and show both of his former teammates just how wrong they were. Meanwhile, Hinata had walked home, and was standing at the front gate of her families compound fidgeting with her fingers nervously. This news wasn't going to go well with her father and the council of elders, however even worse was her cousin's potential reaction. She knew that he was bitter about the past, having lost his father in the service of the Main Branch, and blaming Hinata who was involved in the incident. He saw her as a failure and as an anomaly. She didn't fit with the clan, and because of his hatred for her, she lost a lot of confidence in herself to perform as she knew she could.

After having entered the home, she made her way to her bedroom, where she was going to pack up her belongings, and make sure everything was ready so that she could leave on a moments notice. Staying would prolong the torture and her own feelings of helplessness. If there was one thing she wanted to get out of this trip, it was hoping that she could have more confidence in herself. Finally finished packing, Hinata brought the bag with her to her fathers office, and placed it outside the door. She then knelt on the ground and knocked on the door.

"You may enter." The deep voice of her father came from the other side of the door after a moments hesitation. Hinata skillfully opened the door and slid inside on her knees in one motion, highly practiced. Hiashi Hyuuga regarded his daughter critically. While on the outside he wasn't allowed to show his love for her, it tore him up inside to have to treat his own child, a beautiful girl who looked just like her mother, with contempt that he did not hold. The cruelty that he was forced to show her by his own council and elders, made him want to leave the family and take her with him.

"Hinata. What have you come here for." He cringed at his own tone. This poor child had so much pitted against her all her life.

"I have come to tell you of a training trip that I have been assigned. It has been awarded an A ranking. I leave this afternoon." The young girl stated, bowing her head. Hiashi paused for a moment. This could give her the chance to improve herself both physically and mentally. He knew that when he was forced to make her spar with her younger sister Hanabi she held back. He knew that she didn't want to hurt her sister, but it made her look weak and incapable. Hopefully this trip would help her realize her potential.

"Alright. When do you arrive back? I will have you spar with Hanabi or myself when you return." He stated. If she sparred with him maybe she wouldn't hold back as much.

"I do not know. I will train hard otou-sama. I promise." She muttered the last few words, however Hiashi still heard them. The young girl then burst from the room, grabbed her bag and turned to leave, only to run into the one person she'd hoped she wouldn't see.

"Hinata-_sama_, what is your hurry?" Neji sneered, making it obvious that he was sarcastic.

"I-I h-h-have a t-training t-t-trip." She stuttered out, trying to walk around her cousin who was blocking the hallway.

"Oh? Of course the Heiress of the Main Branch would be awarded such an opportunity. This will be good for you to finally see that you are weak, and destined for nothing." He ground out through his teeth.

"_Neji._" Hiashi called from the office sharply.

"Yes, Hiashi-sama." Neji jumped, not having realized that the head of the family had been within earshot of his mistreating of the man's daughter. Hinata took this opportunity to run away, not bothering to stop for Hanabi when she called out to her. Meanwhile in the office.

"Is this how you treat family, Neji? She is your younger cousin, and you will do well to remember that she is also _my _daughter. Next time I hear you talking to her in that manner I will use your seal." Hiashi threatened. It was known throughout the household that Hiashi disliked using the Caged Bird Seal. He was the least often of the Main branch to use it. This threat made Neji stop for a moment. Had he really misjudged the family heads hatred for indifference? Or even protection? That couldn't be possible, the cruelty shown was far greater than something like protection.

"I understand Hiashi-sama. I will correct my mistake." He bowed and exited the room.

"I have done what I can for you my daughter, the rest is up to you." He glanced at a small picture frame on his desk, which held a younger looking Hiashi, next to a beautiful woman with navy blue hair, holding a small baby with tufts of blue hair on top of her head, pulled into a small bow. Both the parents looked down lovingly to their child, and while the woman was pale, both the husband and baby were a healthy pink.

"Hikari, I have failed you." Hiashi sighed, a single tear leaving his white eye. Hinata was making her way over to the gate where Lee and Naruto both stood already. Andreas had walked up not long after and smiled at the younger ninja.  
"Are we all ready?" He smiled to them. Each of the three looked at each other and nodded enthusiastically.

"Just know, we are not taking a normal method to get to our destinations. This is something that you will not see in a Hidden village." Andreas smiled and put his fingers to his lips. A sharp whistle came soon after and there was a pause in the air. A deafening roar could be heard, and a large creature flew overhead and landed outside the gates of the village. The guards were startled from their idle chatting and prepared to call the Hokage, however Andreas tossed them a scroll, and they settled down slightly, though still weary of the now identifiable dragon. Naruto was stunned, he'd never seen one of these creatures before, and not only that but it was an astonishingly beautiful Dragon. From some gut feeling he knew that the dragon was a female. Her scales were a bright gold color, and her eyes were a deep red. She had two large horns that sat at the top of her head, just at the back of her skull with lighter golden hair under it. She had spines that ran down her neck, with a break at her shoulders, but starting again around her ribs. Her long tail had a tuft of fur like hair at the end.

"She's beautiful..." Naruto smiled at the proud creature. Andreas felt the pull of a grin at the corners of his mouth.

"How did you know that Rithrania was female?" He asked. Naruto blushed and ran his hand over the back of his head.

"Somehow I just knew." Naruto glanced back to the dragon, who was then identified as Rithrania, and bowed slightly. The creature looked at him curiously and bowed her head back.

"We shall be taking all of you to your training destinations, be warned, we will train you differently than you have ever been trained before. As well, time moves differently for these places than they do for those who live on the surface world like you did. For this training, we will change you back to the earliest stage in your life that you can comprehend teachings, and raise you again in our customs. That being said, your memories shall remain, however you will regain them as you train, to keep from a sensory overload. It sounds more complicated than it is." Andreas explained, helping each of the children onto Rithrania's back and then joining them.

"How long will this take? If we are to start over, then we will need to grow to our current ages once again." The boy called Rock Lee stated questioningly.

"That is correct. However, like I said our time moves differently, and can be controlled. So while you will be twice the age that you are now, you will not age a day older than you are currently. We will return you to your current age by the end, and you will have a lifetime experience to show for it." The Prince explained. Naruto was even more excited, because he could grow to be stronger than he was now, and not need to grow up living a hard life. There he will be trained, and treated like a human being, and not a monster. He couldn't wait to get a better start to life. The flying felt amazing to Hinata. The wind blew through her hair and made her feel alive and free. Lee was far more nervous. He liked being on the ground, and as far as being on the back of a creature that could easily kill him, he knew that the ground was where he was going to stay.

"May I sit on your head?" Naruto asked the creature as she was flying.

"Little one, because you are small, and respect not only my beauty, and my pride, you may join me at my head." The dragon spoke back, a rich velvety voice coming from the large and powerful maw. Naruto scrambled up to Rithrania's horns and held on tightly, taking in the view from her perspective.

"When you join the ranks as a Draconic Knight, you shall hatch your own dragon. I pray that you achieve that goal of yours, you have the heart of a Draconic Lord." Rithrania spoke to Naruto, nudging him gently with her horn.

"I hope you haven't become too smitten with my dragon, she is a beauty but she hatched for me, she is my life partner." Andreas joked from her back, relaxing lazily at the base of her neck.

"I wouldn't dream of trying to take her from you." Naruto laughed. Lee admired his bravery to want to be on the head of a flying dragon, but still wished that he were on the ground instead. Soon the dragon started to fly closer to the ground, somehow having made it over a certain distance without having been noticed by most ninja villages.

"We have arrived in the town where you both will be picked up by your instructors. We will spend a day here after they have come in contact with you to orient you to your new bodies." And with that statement, and a wave of his hand, Andreas changed the three children all to the age of 3. Naruto shrunk only a little, having been very small for his age because of maltreatment, while Hinata and Lee had slightly more significant size changes. Hinata's hair grew longer again, back to what it was when she was a child, and Lee's hair changed to a less bowl shape, and more wild look. None of the children knew where they were in that moment.

"I am Andreas Valevar, this is Talise M'ai, and Greyleaf Alderblade. We are going to teach you all! Naruto Uzumaki, you are with me. Hinata Hyuuga-chan, you are to go with Talise. And Rock Lee, Greyleaf will be your trainer. Work hard, do well, and we shall evaluate your progress." The tall man with yellow hair said, having the children take the hands of the three adults. Hinata looked back at the yellow haired boy, not wanting to be separated from him, and Lee enthusiastically grabbed the hand of the tall gentleman who went to stand next to him. Greyleaf was an older man, with a long grey beard he kept braided until it reached his lower chest, and long grey hair pulled back into a high pony tail. He had caring eyes and dimples on his cheeks, but an aura of strength surrounded him.

The woman who knelt next to the shrunken Hinata was beautiful beyond words, her hair was a combination of multiple shades of blue and green, working in long luxurious curls that flowed down to the ground looking like cascading water. Her face was heart shaped, and her eyes were a bright ocean blue.

"Come my little dear. We must leave now. You shall see your love again." Talise's voice was even more beautiful than she was, coaxing Hinata towards her with little effort at all. Something clicked inside Hinata, and she remembered who the boy was. The boy she held closest to her heart at all times. A swell of warmth hit the young girls heart and she knew that she would see him again. Hinata and Talise both began to walk towards the inn in town, which was also where the shops were, and where Talise would provide Hinata with the proper clothing for her training. Greyleaf led Lee to the training fields, already itching to start his training. Andreas picked Naruto up and put him on his shoulder and decided to walk around town with him.

_Inside Naruto's Mindscape _

"These damn Knights. I would have been free!" The giant fox sealed inside Naruto shouted angrily. He knew that when the Knight used the aging jutsu, it reverted the seal back to a stronger form, helping to keep the demon trapped even better than before. That being said, Kurama, as he was named, didn't hate the boy he was sealed in. He re-watched the memories from the time he was sleeping and realized that the poor kid had been given a worse life than he'd thought before. That doesn't mean he likes the brat. Anyone could tell from looking at Naruto that because of his maltreatment, and all around malnourishment on an everyday basis since he was born, the kid had no brains whatsoever. If he'd been fed and nourished and taken care of, chances were he'd be smarter. Kurama couldn't do anything for the kid either, because if he stepped in, the influence of his chakra would just overpower the kids genetic code and turn him into something that wasn't human anymore. That would just make matters worse for him, so Kurama did what he could to heal the boy and let him live a relatively peaceful life without his influence.

"Do your best kid. They probably can help you better than I could." The giant chakra being muttered and put his head on his oversized paws for a nap.

~SIGNIFICANT TIME SKIP!~

Three pre-teens, all looking confident and strong stood on the outskirts of a town they hadn't been to in just about 10 years. The first, a tall blonde haired boy with three whisker marks stood, with eyes that changed from blue to gold, smiled as he whistled strongly. This boy, a sworn and trusted Draconic Knight, watched the skies as a very large shadow passed over the group of people.  
"Ohen, I thought I told you to be here by now!" The boy called to the dragon as it landed in the open road outside of the gates.

"Hunting took priority, thank you very much." The dragon replied lazily, still munching on a bone of some animal he had caught just before being summoned. Ohen was a large male dragon, having grown to full size since having hatched to the boy called Naruto Uzumaki. He was a black in color, with red starting to show in his scales. His eyes were a bright gold color. The only female in the group of three chuckled and pet the head of the blue and purple dragon lazily draped over her shoulder. This dragon would never get any bigger than she was, and that was perfectly fine with her owner. Hinata stood firmly, holding herself proud and strong as she prepared to represent the Maidens of Water in her home village. She'd spent much of her time focusing on training, that the relaxed pace of the village would be a nice change. The finally member of the group smiled at his companions and glanced at the dragon that he himself had hatched. Unlike the first two, this dragon never grew wings. He was a deep forest green, with scales and horns that looked as though they formed a slicked back mane. He sat near the boy who's clothes matched his scales and huffed at the actions of his companions.

"Oh hush Ladon. They are merely excited. Are you not feeling the excitement of being able to travel finally? Stretch your legs?" The boy, who's name was Rock Lee, Earth Warrior, asked his dragon with a smile.

"I would enjoy to travel, however if it is going to be in such a frivolous manner I would rather travel alone." The dragon huffed again. Lee chuckled again.

"We have one last goodbye to give you all. May your travels be safe, your lives be lived well, and your strength never dwindle. We grant you our blessings, and pray that you continue the paths we have taught you." The three teachers, all beloved by their pupils, spoke in unison. While time may have passed for the three young children, only 23 days had passed for the world around them. They anticipated a world of difference, forgetting that they were the only ones changing.

"I think we are all ready to head out. Thank you for all of your tutelage and your love over the last 10 years. I really would never have made it far in life had you not shown me the way." Naruto bowed to his teacher, who nodded and gave his pupil and surrogate son a hug.

"Talise-okaa-sama, I love you so much I will miss you and I will make you proud of everything you've taught me to do!" Hinata spoke for the first time, with a voice that would make anyone fall for her.

"I am already proud of you my daughter." The beautiful lady smiled and kissed the girl on the forehead.

"I will be expecting to hear of your exploits through the men in town." Greyleaf spoke, wacking his pupil on the back very hard. Lee nodded, used to the lack of affection, and knowing that that was the best compliment he could get. With that, the three teens took to their dragons. More specifically Naruto and Hinata climbed onto Ohen's back, while Lee and Ladon took to the ground. Both dragons were swift, and made the travel back to the Elemental Nations quite a lot faster. It was when they came to the outskirts of The Land of Fire that they decided to use their own feet to walk home. Hinata's dragon, Avrae, yawned as she woke up from her nap.

"I want to fly," was all she said before stretching much like a cat and taking off from Hinata's shoulders.

"Do not fall behind little one!" Hinata called. She glanced over at her taller companion and felt a small blush rise to her face. He had gotten so much more handsome than he was before, there was less baby fat on his body and more muscle. His face was lean, and she couldn't help but notice that he resembled the Fourth Hokage. Brushing that thought aside, Avrae, who by nature was a lazier dragon, flew back down and landed on Ohen's back.

"Is there a reason you like laying down on me?" The much larger dragon asked, glancing back at the young female perched between his shoulder spikes.

"You are warm, and the sun is warmer on your back than it is on Hinata's." She sighed, stretching. Ohen nodded and continued to walk behind the group of teens. Lee had told Ladon that he was free to roam the area and hunt if he wished, and that is what he did.

"Are we ready to face our village again? Most people won't want to believe that we got this much stronger in the short time its been for them." Lee asked, he seemed concerned, but there was a fire in his eyes.

"I'm sure they will have a fit, but that's what I'm looking forward to. Pissing them off used to give me such satisfaction, and now that I'm stronger, and not nearly as stupid, I can't wait to make it worse for them." Naruto rubbed his hands together deviously. Whenever he got that look on his face, or whenever he got fired up about fighting, his hair started to take the color of his dragons scales, only on certain strands however. To Hinata it made him look more regal, if that were possible. She chuckled at the antics of her companions. Her father has gone without seeing her for only about a month, when she has been missing him for a decade. While she knew that he would probably treat her indifferently like normal, she wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around his neck like she used to when she was a child.

Soon the gates of the Village Hidden in the Leaves came into view. The hundred foot tall wall that surrounded the village an impressive sight, even to those who have lived in it for all of their lives. Naruto clenched his fists in anticipation, he was excited to prove that he was stronger than before.

"State your name and business." The guard at the gate demanded.

"Kotetsu. Izumo. I'm surprised. Its only been a month. Training group 343 returning." Naruto smirked, walking passed the stunned chuunin guards. Hinata chuckled and followed, along with Lee as they walked to the Hokage tower. As the three entered the secretary at the desk just let them pass, unsure of what to say or do. The outcasts had returned. While in a meeting with his personal advisors and former teammates, Sarutobi sighed hoping that the endless stream of complaints for letting the "demon brat" out of the village would stop, and the requests to sending the Uchiha heir out on the trip instead. A knock on the door was heard. Relief filled the Hokage as he allowed the group to enter. Three young shinobi entered, all strong looking but familiar.

"Team 343 returning for duty Hokage-sama." Naruto spoke, bowing his head slightly. Sarutobi's eyes widened. He knew that voice anywhere.

"Naruto…and your teammates! You have returned sooner than I thought you would." He smiled at them. The advisors turned to face the newcomers and glared at one in specific.  
"You have yet to address us brat! Know your place, you can't come barging into the Hokage's office unannounced. We can have you arrested for that!" Koharu growled through her teeth.

"We should pass a rule that whatever these three learned on their so called 'training trip' they should teach to Uchiha-sama. He must grow stronger if he is to defeat his enemies." Homura looked to the third of the advisors, a war hawk called Danzo.  
"Pardon me, but we can't share what we learned with others. We are not permitted to do so by our leaders and teachers." Lee stepped in, politely declining.

"Insolent brat! You _will _teach what you learned or you _will _be tried for treason." Homura raised his voice.

"SILENCE! Since when do we force our shinobi to share their clan secrets? How is this any different from forcing the Hyuuga clan to teach the Jyuuken to the entire village. They will not be forced to teach others, end of discussion, and if I hear word of any of the three of you attempting to force these young shinobi in anyway again, I will have you stripped of your positions, your chakra, and your clan head titles and you will be forced to live the life of a civilian, with absolutely no say in the NINJA village. Have I made myself clear?" Sarutobi glared powerfully at his advisors letting killing intent fill the room.

"You all may leave. I must debrief this team." The older Hokage dismissed his council, fed up with how they were acting. They left in a hurry, glad to be away from so many issues.

"I can't believe they actually were able to completely train you all in that short time!" The three kids smiled at each other.

"It will be more believable once we explain how it went. But first, shouldn't we show you what we've learned?" Naruto smirked. He couldn't wait to show that he was stronger.

"I will prepare a current team. We will take into consideration your words on where you are however." Sarutobi nodded to the kids.

"I'd say low Jounin for all of us. However we would like to level up at the same rate as the rest of the ninja our age, and anyway as far as ninja techniques, we are the same as when we left. We didn't work on our ninjutsu at all. Although what we learned can be considered some form of hidden art, so all the same." Hinata spoke. Blinking, the Hokage nodded and wrote down what she'd said.

"I will send in Team 7. They were a stronger power house team anyway, so it will be fitting to see where you fair." Naruto's smirk grew even wider. He'd wanted to test up against the "genius" Uchiha once again.  
"Please wait in the training ground on top of the Hokage Mountain. I will have the team meet you there. If you can, disguise yourselves without the use of ninjutsu, I don't want any personal agenda's getting in the way." Naruto chuckled, knowing that Sasuke would definitely hold some issues against him. With that all three exited the office via the window. Naruto used some wind magic to float his way over to the mountain, while both Lee and Hinata roof hopped until they arrived. Once there Naruto pulled a black face mask over his lower face, and used a red bandana on his hair. Lee did the same with a green bandana, and Hinata tied her hair back into a high ponytail and used a purple bandana. She also used a pair of contacts that gave her a black pupil for here eyes. All three stood ready for a fight when four presences appeared around them.

"Who are you and what are you doing in the village?" An annoyed sounding Sasuke asked.

"We are here for a test of our strength. Why else would we be here?" Lee asked, changing his voice slightly.

"Don't get smart with us." Sakura bit back using a small amount of killing intent. Hinata snorted to herself and let some of her own out, having a higher potency than Sakura did, the pink haired girl paled slightly.

"So are we going to stand around all day, or are we going to fight?" Naruto asked getting annoyed with all the bantering.

"Are you going to get that stupid looking creature off of your shoulder?" The third and unidentified member of the genin team commented offhandedly.

"You will regret insulting Avrae." Hinata glared powerfully. Her voice had changed slightly and Lee and Naruto knew to activate their own powers if they wanted to be able to fight around her. Without a warning all three of the genin opponents leapt into the fight, brandishing their weapons and preparing to take care of the perceived threat to the village. Kakashi stood off to the side knowing what it really was about but allowed his team to take care of it. He couldn't identify the team they were testing however, and was a bit concerned about the level that they were going up against. Sasuke went after the taller boy in the black and red, while Sakura was forced to go against the green clad member. Saburo Honda was fighting the girl who's pet he'd insulted. He'd just barely been on the team for a week and he'd already been dragged around by the annoying other members of the team. While his skills didn't necessarily mesh well with theirs, he knew he was still valuable.

Sasuke attempted to swipe the intruder off of his feet using a leg sweep, however it was dodged and soon followed by a kick to the abdomen. Sasuke attempted to block the kick, and realized that the force was stronger than his guard, and he was thrown off of his feet into the tree behind him. Sakura paused in the middle of her fight to shout about her Sasuke-kun, when Lee stepped in with a hard glare.

"It would do you well not to take your eyes off of me, pink hair onee-san. I am your opponent." He spoke with hardened words. His only thoughts on the matter had been that she was a useless genin who didn't work hard enough. Naruto waited for his opponent to right himself from the tree that had splintered upon impact. Winded Sasuke could only cough to catch his breath.

"Why don't you attack me, I'm weakened." Sasuke spat angrily, noticing that his enemy had given him a grace period.

"What use is kicking a boy when he's down. I'd call you a man but you hardly qualify as of now. Also, you still haven't realized what we are actually doing here, so until you do, we fight." Naruto explained, keeping his voice changed for the sake of his current identity. Hinata was fairing better, having dominated her opponent without needing to use any of her other abilities. Although the boy was still smart mouthing her.

"Why is it that I always have to fight the weakest of the enemies? And why are they always women?" He asked more to himself than to anyone else, however it was still within earshot of everyone from team 343.

"Oh shit…. Katsu! Get out of earshot now!" Naruto called, using the code name they had given to Lee.

"HIKARI!" Lee yelled attempting to get the angered woman's attention.

"Its no good, get out of here." Naruto grabbed his companion, and without bothering to get the other team out of the way, fled the scene. With a whistle, Ohen came soaring in and grabbed the two teammates and flew them high above the village, where they could see what was happening still, but couldn't here Hinata.

"Think they are doomed?" Lee asked, hoping she would take it easy on them.

"Oh hell no. She's used that voice thing on me before, it took me a month to recover, but that was without help, surely the village will take care of the precious team." Naruto replied, smirking.

"You little shit. I am not the weakest on the team. We are all equal in strength." Hinata murmured, her voice changing again to something almost more soothing. It was then that she released her limiter. It was a small tattoo on her shoulder in the shape of a dragon that helped to keep her abilities in check.

"SIREN SONG!" She cried, her voice becoming extremely shrill, and causing the surrounding area to be filled with a very dense fog. Much like a genjutsu, it was an illusion that shows a person exactly what they want to see. For example, Sakura was seeing Sasuke, waiting for her with a picnic and asking her to be his girlfriend. While in reality, each and everyone of the other team fell into a trap. They were seeing what they wanted, but not realizing that they were drowning in the fog. The water content in the air was becoming so dense that oxygen was becoming harder to get.

"Alright, time to bail them out." Naruto sighed. He sucked in a large breath of air, and using a wind technique blew the fog away from the suffocating team. He landed with Ohen nearby and found Hinata in the middle of the barely breathing group of genin.

"I think they learned their lesson dear." He smirked kicking Sasuke out of the way of his path. Hinata glanced at Naruto, realizing that she'd taken it a little too far. Sarutobi stepped out into the clearing and called some ANBU to take the genin to the hospital.

"And you are sure you wish to be genin still?" He asked, as they took off their disguises.

"Yes we want to go through all of the tests to become Jounin on our own, no shortcuts." Naruto nodded.

"Now, I think its time for us to talk." Hinata mumbled, not convinced that the team had learned their lesson entirely.

"I believe you are correct." Sarutobi nodded, and led the group back into his office.

* * *

_End of Chapter AN:_

For those of you who noticed that not only did I not go into what their training entitled, I also did not show what they all learned completely. That will take up the next few chapters, because trust me, it will be a long process. I planned on detailing each of their training at different times, such as Naruto first, Lee second, and Hinata last, because they weren't all training in the same place all at once. I also didn't describe their clothes or their looks, mostly because their looks didn't change all that much, but I was going to make those observations from the Hokage once he calmed down enough to make them.

**IMPORTANT! **

** For people who follow me for my other stories, I have started to work on all of the ones that I've not finished yet, realizing that I am a terrible person and unable to finish what I've started without a kick in the butt. That being said it will take a while for me to get everything out because I am still in school and its gotten worse as far as scheduling goes. Never take up Paramedic school if you don't want to lose a year of your life that you wont get back. **

Rambles over, I promise.

Please review with what you think so far, its rough but I wanted to get it out. Please look forward to the updates to the other stories in the future!


	2. Back Again

So this chapter started off with a direction, I lost it halfway through, and gained it back in the matter of a day, so now ITS DONE! I threw in an element I'd never considered before, and that will be revealed to you at some point later in the chapter. Now, please note that the next chapter should come out a little faster than this one did, because this was more filler than anything. Also note that I will not be going into their training here or in the next few chapters. I need to plan for that and as of right now I have nothing in my head so it's a bit fuzzy. That being said, it will happen, just not for a bit. Now, I'm all set, so READ ON!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any original characters. Also this is not a crossover with Eragon, it might seem similar however it is not a crossover.

* * *

It wasn't until the recently returned genin were back into the Hokage's office did they relax. The feel of the village hadn't changed, it was the trust that the three children held for the village that had. Since learning of the mistreating of Naruto ever since he was a child, and why, both Hinata and Lee had begun to hate the village and those in it who scorn such a powerful ally. The three of them were seated on the couch in front of the desk when there was another knock on the door.

"Yes?" The Hokage called, genuinely wondering who it was. He didn't have any scheduled meetings and there weren't any foreign dignitaries coming into the village today. On top of Iruka handling the Missions Office, he should only have the debriefing and paperwork. Kakashi entered the room, glancing over the three genin who were still wearing their disguises.

"Yes, Kakashi? What can I help you with?" Sarutobi asked, knowing it was going to have something to do with returning Naruto to his team.

"I noticed that these three genin have returned, and I would like to have my cute little student back." The silver haired man responded with an eye smile.

"I can't do that. The teamwork that your team showed during their time together was abysmal to nonexistent at best. I cannot do that." This answer did not seem to go well with the Jounin instructor, but then Naruto spoke up.

"Do you know what the last thing was that Sakura and Sasuke said to me before I left? They asked me to stop being a ninja because I was dragging them down. They would rather drop me entirely than help. I refused to give up and now I'm stronger than both of them so I'm not going to accept this. I have a team that I work well with, AND get along with. I'm staying." He pulled the face-mask down and took the bandana off. Each of the genin had changed physically since they had gone to train. Kakashi had noticed a taller Naruto, but the boy in front of him looked so much like his old teacher that he couldn't help but think he'd done him wrong.

Naruto now was one of the tallest of the genin, having been given proper food and training with Andreas. On top of that his hair was actually long, having been pulled back at his neck, some of the spikes remained however they were more tame, and he had two strands of hair that went down the sides of his face. He was more muscular than he had been before, and even wore a different style of clothing entirely. He wore a black leather jacket and a red v-neck underneath, with a pair of black cargo pants and black combat boots. He wore a belt that had a red dragon as the buckle, and a pendant of a sword and a dragon around his neck. His Konoha forehead protector was actually tied around his belt loop, acting more as an accent, and the band had been changed from navy blue to blood red. This style suited him, if not seemed impractical for fighting, however it didn't seem to bother him when he fought Sasuke off.

Hinata had become more feminine if that was possible. Her hair was still long, and had actually taken on some curls. The blue faded into a green towards the ends, and was pulled back into a high ponytail still. She wore a simple purple tank top, with a blue and green pendant that seemed to change colors with the light, in the shape of a water drop. Her pants were tactical, with many pockets down the sides and a pouch on her right leg with different throwing weapons and seals. Her limiter was open for all to see, and its tail wrapped around her left bicep. Her eyes were a deep violet, and she wore a light amount of makeup, and overall looked absolutely stunning. These two still looked similar to how they did before, however it was Lee who had changed the most.

Lee was only a little shorter than Naruto, and he wore a green loose fitting quarter button shirt with the first few buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up, a pair of dark grey denim jeans with the bottoms rolled slightly as well, and a pair of brown boots with darker brown laces. He wore a leather wristband that had been branded with the Konoha symbol, and on his right collar bone was his limiter, a green snarling dragon. The biggest change he had was in his hair, it was slicked back, instead of in the obnoxious bowl cut he used to have, and it was layered much like his dragons horns. With a sigh, Sarutobi waved his hand at Kakashi, with a silent promise that they would talk later. Kakashi huffed quietly and left, seeing as how he would get his conversation eventually.

"I was wondering actually, if it would be ok to see our friends and families before we do the big talk, because this will take a long time." Hinata asked, gesturing between the three kids.

"I suppose so. Be back here tomorrow morning. Also Naruto I need you to stay for just a little bit." The Hokage agreed. Naruto nodded to the other two and they headed out to wait outside.

"I would like to give you your old apartment back, however it was destroyed. The building was bought out and demolished a week after you had left. I want to do something for you three because I know that you are no longer regular genin, and you've had a rough life as it is. I am going to give the three of you a house that you can use to live in as a team. I know that both you and Lee-kun don't have commitments to the places you were in before, and I spoke with Hyuuga-san about it and he agreed on the condition that Hinata-chan still train with him when he calls for her to do so. I have already acquired the deed, and the land would all be yours. I just need for you to sign here, and it is in your name." The Hokage passed a paper across the desk to Naruto. Naruto read over the paper, looking for any detail that could be incriminating in any way, for anyone of his team, and when he was satisfied that it was just a housing contract, he scribbled his name at the bottom of the page.

"Perfect. Now that that is settled, I will see you three tomorrow." Sarutobi smiled at his surrogate grandson. He was handed a map then that would show him how to get there. Glancing over it he noticed that the house was near the Forest of Death, and there was a wide expanse of land and water that would become part of their property. With a smile Naruto knew that some serious strings were pulled to get this home. The boy then stood and took a deep breath, letting out a long whistle while walking to the window. The whistle was for his team and his dragon to know to follow him. He then took a flying leap out the window. Hiruzen Sarutobi had seen a lot in his years, but a dragon flying after his boy was something he'd never expected to see.

"Your son will go far Minato." He smiled to a picture frame on his desk, which housed a tall blonde haired man in Jounin garb, and a red haired woman with a swollen pregnant belly smiling back at him.

Naruto was sprinting across the rooftops when Hinata and Lee caught up to him.

"So what did he talk to you about?" Lee asked, barely watching where he was going and glancing at Naruto instead.

"He has given the three of us a house to live in altogether. I'm going to the property now." Naruto replied with a huge grin. His pointed teeth making his face look even more mischievous than normal.

"Our own house? What about living with my father?" Hinata asked, a little concerned about what he would think.

"That is a conversation you will need to have with him. I know he is alright with it, but you need to talk." Naruto grabbed her hand reassuringly. Hinata smiled and felt her confidence rise again. She couldn't wait to show her father how far she had come. Soon the three teammates were close to the house, and Naruto realized why it was an easy buy. It was quite the fixer upper, however with his clones he could get it done in no time. All he needed were some construction books from the public library.

"I'll get started on this, Lee if you could help me that would be great. Hinata, we will see you later. Go show him how strong you are!" Naruto shooed her away with a grin. Hinata knew that they had her back and she knew that she would be fine. Instead of taking to the rooftops like Naruto did, she decided to walk back leisurely. She had time to spare and couldn't help but notice that the home they had been given was close to the Hyuuga compound. With a slight hesitation, she went up to the guards and spoke firmly.

"Hinata Hyuuga, returning from one month mission requesting access." She stated, knowing that the guards would need to check to make sure she was actually who she said she was.

"Hinata-sama?! Is that you?!" One of the guards asked, breaking his form to look at her.

"Don't be so surprised Hano-san. I was to return within 30 days time. Was I not?" She returned with a smile, remembering that the guards were some of the few people within the Hyuuga family that actually liked her.

"We knew of your return, however we did not expect you to have changed this much!" The other guard, an older gentleman named Hatsuo smiled at her. She hugged him briefly, knowing he was like an uncle to her, and slipped within the gate. Looking around she realized that it was just as drab as it was when she'd left, and made a mental note to attempt to subtly change the décor as she came and went. Finding her fathers office was easy, almost second nature for her. Kneeling down, she took a deep breath and spoke.

"Father, I have returned home, and wish to speak with you." She said, more confident than she was the last time she'd done this same action.

"You may enter." His voice came from within, after a moments pause. Still on her knees, she entered much the same way as she had the first time, however instead of staying on her knees, she crossed her legs beneath her, and sat comfortably. Hiashi appraised his oldest daughter critically, she had definitely changed drastically since he'd last seen her, and it was almost like looking at his late wife once again.

"I expect that this training went well." He spoke, not bothering to acknowledge that his nephew Neji was still in the room. The boy had become a thorn, and while Hiashi had sworn to the elders that he would not tell him the truth about his fathers death, he knew it would tone down his arrogance.

"I can only hope for the Main Branches sake that you're training has paid off, Hinata-_sama._" Neji spoke again, making his presence known to Hinata.

"I assure you, it has benefited me greatly, Neji-onii-san." Hinata smirked at him and rose to her feet gracefully, showing that she had changed not only mentally but physically as well. Neji couldn't help but notice the tone to her arms and shoulders, and the fact that she was leaner than she was before she'd left.

"I wish to have a spar. Although I will advise you that I will not be using the Jyuuken. I do not need it anymore. As such, I have not progressed in the Jyuuken, my training was elsewhere. I do not see that as an issue however, because my position for next head of clan is not for me, it is for Hanabi, isn't it?" Hinata glanced at her father, almost missing the downtrodden look he'd given his desk.

"Very well. I shall conduct this spar myself. I shall also consult my advisors as to your position." Hiashi rose and followed the young girl out to the large courtyard that stood in the middle of the compound. This courtyard served as a sparring ring, and a punishment ground for those who need it. It was a dirt square that averaged 30 yards on each side, making it a quite large area. The crowd had gathered by the time both father and daughter had taken their spots on either side of the ring.

"First to yield wins." Called a branch member, who served as proctor. Hinata nodded and took her first stance. Hiashi did the same and the two squared off.

"BEGIN!" The member shouted and leapt back, allowing the two to have their space. Hiashi charged in, hoping to make this quick in the case that his daughter was still far weaker than she needed to be, however before he'd gotten there she'd disappeared. Sensing chakra behind him, he realized she'd gotten behind him and was roundhouse kicking his head from the air. He blocked just in time and skidded away as she landed on one foot. Her hands were tucked into her pants pockets and she leaned back waiting for him to get his footing once again. Gritting his teeth, he couldn't hold in his excitement that his daughter was strong. He remembered her mother, a woman very much of her own style and volition. Hikari was the only woman who was able to keep him out of trouble, but not out of the dirt. She was one of the strongest members of the family at the time, and he never won a spar against her. She had her own style as well, adapting to use weapons as well as Jyuuken, and mixing it all together with her own fighting style. He'd loved that about her, and watched it develop in his oldest, before Hanabi was born. It was when Hikari was pregnant with Hanabi that she fell ill, something that couldn't be treated and ended up dying in childbirth. It was then that the Elders of the clan expressed their doubts in the eldest daughter, saying that she would be too much like her mother.

In his hesitation, Hinata attacked, charging in faster than her father had before, and threw a swipe at his feet, which he jumped over, however was met with a kick to his side, as she had continued to spin in a circle, and used that momentum to continue her kick higher. It was then that Hiashi realized something. Not once in the whole fight had Hinata used her hands. She was only fighting with her legs, and even then Hiashi was being pressured. He then upped his attacks, striking with the Jyuuken at any chance he had, however she was doing a damn good job of not giving him that chance. Finally realizing that, even with using the Rotation, she had dodged everything, he took a step back and stopped.

"What is the strongest attack you have?" He asked her, not knowing the extent of her abilities anymore.

"Something I need my companion for, I will have her in a moment, if you would like to see it." Hinata shrugged, putting her fingers in her mouth and whistling loudly. After a moment of waiting, a small shadow went over the yard and swooped down into Hinata's arms.

"Now you know where I was raised Avrae… Now, we have work to do. I need everyone to clear this side of the courtyard, and I need everyone to step back." Hinata smiled at her familiar and placed her on her shoulders once again. Taking in a deep breath, she released what had been called her Dragons Roar. It was a sound wave attack, using fire as well. Each attack was different, just like each dragon was different. If Naruto were to use his Dragons Roar he could level a small town. However his was a lot more spread out because Ohen was such a large size. Due to Avrae's size, Hinata's roar was a lot more concentrated, better for fewer opponents. It was also not her most powerful attack, however she wasn't going to tell anyone that. A crater had formed underneath her roar, and a good part of the wall she had aimed at had been destroyed. Shocked looks covered most of the faces present. Many had not anticipated Hinata to be as strong as she was, and yet her power was astonishing.

"Hinata Hyuuga is the winner!" the branch member called, smiling at the younger girl. She smiled back and turned to her father.

"I will be going back to visit Kurenai before I go back to our new home." Hinata turned and used chakra to push off and jump up onto the rooftop. For this trip she would move a little faster, having wanted to see Kurenai more than she did her father. Having arrived at the joint apartment of two Jounin ninja of the village, it was no surprise that as soon as she set foot at the doorstep someone was out there to greet her.

"Whooaaa there! Nice look Hyuuga-chibi!" Anko smirked, whistling at the new look of the younger girl. Hinata gave her a look and punched her shoulder light heartedly. Although the older woman would never admit it, her punch was solid and hurt a bit.

"Nai-chan is inside." She laughed, allowing Hinata inside. Kurenai Yuhi was still a freshly appointed Jounin, and although she'd understood the reason for Hinata having been removed from the team, she couldn't help but think it was something she'd done.

"I'm home!" Hinata called, startling the woman from her thoughts.

"HINATA!" Kurenai called, excited to see the girl she thought of as her little sister entered the room. Hinata smiled and pulled the taller woman into a hug. It felt good to see her again, even though to Kurenai she'd only been gone for about a month.

"How was training? When did you get home? IS THAT A TATTOO?!" The Genjutsu mistress of Konoha demanded seeing the dragon that was wrapping around Hinata's arm. Hinata chuckled and nodded, figuring she could explain the whole thing to Kurenai later, or even have her in the room when the stories of the three warriors trainings were being told. It would save her the explanation later. After having sat down and talked to her surrogate sister, Hinata remembered one last thing she needed to do before heading back to the estate with Naruto-kun and Lee-kun. Saying goodbye to Anko and Kurenai, Hinata took to the rooftops and made her way over to some of the nicer apartment buildings in the district and found the one she needed. Without hesitation she knocked on the door and waited patiently.

"Coming!" A high-pitched voice came from the other side. After a moment the door swung open, and standing on the other side was none other than the pink haired banshee herself. She had cuts up and down her arms and her face was slightly bruised still from the fight, however Lee had taken it easy on her it seems. _Big softy._ Hinata thought with a smirk to herself. It was then that Hinata noticed something off about the girl in front of her. Rather than the bright jade green eyes she was used to seeing on the girl, she found herself looking at light rose colored eyes, and her usual outfit was gone.

"Hinata-chan is that you?! Oh my gosh you've changed so much since I last saw you! Come in! I want to talked to you about how your trip went!" The suddenly sweet girl smiled and stepped back into the room to allow Hinata passage. Startled, she entered the home and looked around. It was decorated normally, some girlish stuff here and there but otherwise, it would seem that Sakura was the only person living in the apartment.

"Can I get you something to drink? I have tea, water, milk and some soda's if you want." The pink haired girl offered. She had just tied her hair up, and in that moment given Hinata the chance to see a seal on the back of her neck. It looked like three rings with a swirl in the middle and what looked like a hand that came off part of the swirl.  
"Hey, Sakura, what is that thing on the back of your neck?" Hinata asked. The girl had never put her hair up before and it was the first time Hinata had seen it. A slap was heard in the apartment as Sakura's hand flew to her neck quickly. Then a second later she pulled her hand away and looked startled at Hinata. Her eyes flashed between green and rose, showing that somehow an internal struggle was occurring. Hinata's original intention for going to Sakura's place was to attempt to bully an apology out of her to Naruto because of the fact that her words had hurt him significantly, however it was obvious that something a little more dubious was going on. Hinata stood up and walked towards the struggling girl calmly, hoping not to scare her and push her away without knowing what was going on. In that moment the green in Sakura's eyes held on, and Hinata was knocked back slightly by a burst of chakra.

"Who let you into my house?! Get out bitch!" The voice that came out of the girl was the one that Hinata was accustomed to hearing, the higher pitched gruffy whine that accompanied any obnoxious words. Hinata took that cue to leave, and prepared to give a report on it not only to Naruto, but also to the Hokage. Something was wrong there, and she would get to the bottom of it.

Running back to the new house she discovered that with the help of Naruto's abundant amount of clones and Lee's speed, they were able to fix up most of the problems with their home and move in furniture as well. With a smile Hinata walked around and got a good look at the large property. The landscaping could use some work, however that wouldn't be too difficult and could wait till another time. The house itself was a two story, western style house that seemed to suggest it had been abandoned for many years.

She walked through the front door and immediately knew she was going to feel at home here. The house was an open floor plan, immediately to her left was the family room which connected to the dining room and open kitchen, that had been redone by Naruto's clones earlier in the day. To the right was a sitting room, with comfortable looking couches and a fireplace. Straight ahead was a bathroom and the stairs that led up to the second story, however behind the stairs was another room that seemed tucked away. Hinata went there first, hoping to discover something the boys had missed, although chances were slim. What she found was a closet, large for a coat closet set under the stairs, because she could walk into it. As she followed the wall with her hand she found a small hook that seemed to be on the wrong side. Thinking it could be something interesting she pulled it, and the floor underneath her dropped out. A small scream left her lips as she attempted to find her bearings, however she landed on a solid floor with a thud. It was dark, and after calming herself down Hinata used a small amount of her dragons flames to illuminate the area. Collecting the flames into her hand she held it out in front of her to get a better look. Underneath the house was a large cavern, that looked like it had been abandoned for many years. Walking around the open floor eventually Hinata found what looked like a light switch, and flipped it on. With a quick flash, the lights warmed up until they eventually reached their brightest, showing Hinata what lurked underneath their new house.

"I have to show Naruto and Lee…" She mumbled to herself, fully prepared to find them. The cavern itself showed signs of being used as a training ground, and had weapons of all kinds lining the walls, with targets as well as dummies and other training tools. Looking around Hinata attempted to find the door, only to find a small river that ran through the back part of the cavern. It looked more like a sewer however the water running through it looked pure. A walkway ran along the side of the water and she followed it out, finding that it lead out to the lake that ran next to Konoha. Many people didn't realize that Konoha was situated next to a body of water, but it helped when teaching a large group of people how to water walk. Hinata hightailed it back to the house and burst in the front door right as Naruto and Lee were about to walk out.

"Where have you been? We were worried that Ohen had dragged you off again." Naruto commented, relaying a time when she had accidentally gotten too close to his prey.

"No, but you have to see this." She smiled, sort of happy to have gotten his concern. The boys looked at each other but followed her all the same.

"I hope you guys like falling." She said smiling widely while pulling the hook that dropped the floor. The two boys tumbled down, while this time Hinata managed to land on her feet, and landed in a pile on top of each other.

"What was that for?!" Lee shouted, but trailed off at hearing the echo.

"This is what I found under the house." Hinata smiled again, while Naruto stood up and brushed himself off. He'd noticed that the lights were on still from when Hinata had been down, and the weapons all along the walls.

"Holy shit….this is epic! We'll never run out of weapons with this down here! We can actually practice too!" Naruto cheered, running a full lap around the place before stopping in front of Hinata.

"You're brilliant." He said with a smile and placed a peck on her forehead. This sort of affection was normal from everyone's favorite blonde, however he only did it with her. She blushed and smiled back at him. After a while though they had to go back to the house because someone was knocking at the door. As they ran and arrived back they saw someone they hadn't expected to show up. Sasuke Uchiha, who was obviously still injured was pounding on their door as hard as he could.

"Fuck…" Naruto sighed, and quickly put up a small henge.

"What do you want Uchiha-san." He asked, followed with Hinata who also put up a henge, and Lee who just placed his facemask on.

"I demand that you train me to be stronger. You all were able to beat us up and we are the strongest genin team in Konoha." The bratty boy spoke.

"Not anymore you aren't. If we beat you and you are the strongest then it is obvious that you are subpar." Lee spoke changing his voice again.

"In case you haven't noticed, but we not only beat you, but other than me, my partners Katsu and Arashi were only using their taijutsu. Neither of them used any other abilities and they were able to take out you and your teammate. Your sensei, who followed you here, has allowed you to become reckless and stuck up, while failing to actually train those who are part of your squad. Next time you wish to demand something of us, make sure you can back up your claims." Hinata finished with a sigh, and brushed passed the boy in order to get back into her home. Just as she did so though, he attempted to attack her, much to Avrae's displeasure. The dragon swooped down into his range and using her claws and teeth defended her master. Sasuke could only scream as the grip of the dragon was hard to shake off.

"Avrae, let go." Was the only command from Hinata. The dragon glanced at her master and, albeit reluctantly, let go of the wailing genin.

"My arm! Oh god its torn my arm off!" He wailed having fallen to the ground in pain.

"I forgot to mention that her bite is venomous. My bad, I have the antidote, but I'm going to give it to the hospital to administer." Hinata said with a significant lack of care in her voice. It was then that a member of the ANBU team that inevitably follows the pompous 13 year old around scooped Sasuke up off the ground and ran towards the hospital, catching the vial thrown at him as he left.

"Well. At least he still doesn't know who we are yet." Naruto sighed and reentered the home.

"Hopefully." Lee commented back, taking the stairs up to where the bedrooms were. Hinata followed, having not seen that part of the house yet, and found where she would be living. It was obvious that Naruto had put the room together based on the way it looked. The walls were purple, silver and blue, colors Hinata admitted were her favorite, with a full bed next to the window overlooking the water. She was glad that the boys had some idea of what she would like to have for a room, because if they had tried before going on their training trip it would have ended disastrously. She walked to the window and pushed it open, and sighed, hoping that their lives had been changed for the better. Even with her fathers opinion of her having changed, even slightly as it were, she could only hope that Neji would one day come around.

"Hey guys, can we talk?" Naruto called from the kitchen, where the sounds of food being prepared drifted from. Hinata left her room, noticing that Lee's was across the hall and painted to look like a forest. She smirked at him as he shrugged in response. As all three gathered Naruto turned to address them.

"I say we wait to tell the Hokage about our training. I understand why he'd want to know, but at the same time I want to keep what we can do, the rest of what we can do, secret. It really isn't the Village's call on this anymore." Naruto spoke, glancing between his two teammates. Before leaving this village he barely knew these two peoples names, let alone that they were the same age as him, and now, he trusted them with his life. Naruto felt someone other than the three of them on the property and sighed.

"I'll get the door." He spoke, walking from the kitchen to the front door. Upon opening it a member of ANBU stood hand raised to knock on the door.

"I have a message for you from the Hokage. Tomorrow is the first day of the Chuunin exams. You must have a sensei in order to participate. You also must have either a Team name or a Team number. The meeting is at the Academy, room 301. That is all." With that the ANBU member shunshined away.

"I have the team name covered, however we don't have a sensei. I can remedy that however I would need to send Ohen back to Andreas-otou-san for him to join us for the exam. I think we are all prepared for this now. I'm going to run out and grab some groceries for us, I will be back in a little while." Naruto reported back to Hinata and Lee. Both nodded and went back into their rooms for whatever they were doing. Naruto put the bandana back onto his head and pulled his facemask up, hiding his identity from the village and proceeded to go shopping. There was little fuss with the stores, most accepting that he was just a ninja they haven't seen for a while, and he continued on his way. Within a moments notice however he was on guard and aware that a small child from the village was being attacked. Present at the scene was Sakura and Sasuke, who looked like he was still recovering from Avrae's bite.

"Hey! Let go of him!" Sakura cried, her voice still as piercing as ever.

"Just let the brat go, and tell us who you are." Sasuke demanded in return.

"Come on Kankuro, he just ran into you that's all. We have somewhere to be. You don't want _him _to get mad at you do you?" The girl of the group, a tall and athletically built blonde with a very large fan on her back and four ponytails spoke.

"Its alright Temari, he went back to the room already. I also want this brat to apologize for running into me. Its very rude and he should be punished." The other member, a man with what looked like purple makeup on his face and a hooded one piece suit responded snidely. It was then that Naruto made his presence known. He used a quick kenpo step that put him behind Kankuro and placed a kunai at the neck of the suddenly tense foreign ninja.

"I'd advise you to be careful with what you say. The young man in your hand is the grandson of our Hokage. Put him down." Naruto spoke, lowering his voice a bit, making sure that Konohamaru was released before he retracted his guard.

"I also don't think you realize that your third teammate has yet to leave you alone. Maybe listening to the pretty lady of your group would be smart." Naruto spoke, moving away from the two ninja and ushering Konohamaru behind him. He may hate the village with a passion however he would still defend it, and its people. Sasuke was livid, but he at least knew to wait until after the scuffle was over to say anything.

"Kankuro. Temari. You have disgraced our village. If you do this again I will kill you." The bored sounding voice came from the tree behind Sakura. Neither Sakura nor Sasuke had sensed that the third ninja was there, telling them that this stranger with blonde and reddish hair had a better sensing ability than all of those present.

"I apologize for them." The red haired boy jumped down from the tree and joined his teammates.

"Here for the Chuunin exams I see. From Suna no less." Naruto commented, seeing the village symbol on the gourd the red head carried.

"You are correct. I am Gaara no Sabaku. These are my siblings, Temari and Kankuro. Mother and I are very curious of what your name is." Gaara asked.

"Right now you may call me Arashi. However you will soon learn of my true name. Saisho-san." Naruto bowed, allowing his amused eyes to travel up to a startled Suna team.

"Answers shall be revealed in due time." He chuckled to himself.

"I look forward to fighting you." Naruto turned to walk away however was interrupted by Sasuke, who put his hand on the taller boys shoulder.

"I will bide my time for now. You will train me however. It is inevitable." The dark haired avenger spoke.

"Keep telling yourself that." Naruto shrugged him off and was about to walk back towards his home when another chakra signature caught his attention. It was a strong one, familiar yet foreign. He quickly told Ohen to return the groceries and commence his mission for Andreas, and went to where the signature originated. A quick jump to the rooftops and he was across the village in no time, watching as three female ninja entered the gates of Konoha. One was obvious. The tallest of the three was Tsunade Senju, the last of her clan and best healer in the world. The second tallest had to be her apprentice, Shizune. The third female was one that shook Naruto to the core. The girl was tall for her age, however not as tall as Hinata was. She had bright red hair and blue eyes the same shade as Naruto's. Her hair was pulled back, however it was spiky as it fell. This girl had the same face shape as he did as well. Within a moment an ANBU member appeared next to him.

"You are being requested at a meeting in the Hokage's office. You are to follow me." He spoke, placing a hand on Naruto, albeit hesitantly. Allowing himself to be brought to the office, he found the Hokage looking at him with a grave face. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost and behind the fear was regret and guilt. Feelings Naruto knew first hand were a terrible combination when presented to him.

"Announcing the return of one Tsunade Senju and her two apprentices, Shizune and one Aikiko Namikaze." The secretary beyond the door announced. Naruto in that moment felt his whole world shatter. While he was abused and left to die, his supposed twin sister was sent on a trip around the fucking world. Lucky for him, and everyone around him, his mask was still up and his bandana was secured, because if they weren't, the dragon like features that had donned Naruto's face would scare anyone away. His hair was starting to harden to scales and horns, and his eyes had already switched to their dragon form. His fangs and claws elongated in anger. All three women entered the office at that time, heads bowed respectfully. Upon looking up all three flinched at the somewhat terrifying appearance of the other occupant of the room.

"Hey, Hokage-oji-ji, who is that?" Aikiko asked. Her voice was high and smooth, and up close it was obvious that the two were related.

"This is your brother Aikiko. This is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze." The Hokage said, confused by the question until he'd glanced at Naruto. The livid young man looked as if he were ready to murder someone.

"The reason we have called you in, Naruto, is because we needed to sort out some issues." The Hokage spoke, attempting to alleviate any further aggravation, however he seemed to only have been able to further it.

"Sort out some issues? Maybe some of these issues needed to be sorted out before you fucking left me to die." Naruto snapped, his voice still full of anger.

"Left you to die? That's not what happened! You were to be trained by Jiraiya!" Tsunade snapped back, however was easily shot down by Naruto.

"And how the fuck would you know? You ran off without any concern!

I was left here, alone, without any training, without anyone to help me, attacked every year on my birthday since I was 3. After getting kicked out of the orphanage I spent a good year living on the streets before I was placed in my own apartment. I then proceeded to rot alone. Does that sound like training to you? I'm done with this favoritism bullshit. I'll just leave this here for you to peruse." Naruto commented, using a spell he knew from Andreas to copy his earliest memories until before he left on his training trip and placing them in an orb that would dissolve after it was used.

Before he left however he removed his coverings and showed them exactly what his anger looked like. His hair had burst out of its holder, and now sat just like Ohens horns. Scales began to form on his face and neck, a deep black with red highlights in between them. His fangs were sharp and white, while his eyes were golden in color, they held no warmth. If anything the gold made them look as if they would cut you up on sight. Aikiko, who was silent up until then gasped. She had expected a boy that looked like her, not one who looked like he wasn't human. She'd been told all her life about a brother that she would one day see when she was strong enough. She waited for that day all her life.

"I also would like to inform you that I was never told that I was not an only child. I would like to thank you for that Hokage-sama. I appreciate how shitty my life has been made by you thus far. I look forward to seeing how strong the genin of this village are in the Exams." Naruto turned and leapt out the window, casting wind energy to carry him away from the tower at a greater pace.

"Was that really my brother?" Aikiko asked, tears filling her eyes as she found her voice again.

"That really was, but I've fucked up majorly." The Hokage spoke, tapping the orb to start the memory reel. All of them watched the abuse and suffering that the young boy had gone through, and by the end there was not a dry face in the room. Aikiko couldn't believe that the village had been that cruel to her family. Her one and only brother had become jaded and closed off because of it, and she hoped that he would one day be able to accept her.

"How could you do that to him? He was a grandson to you!" Shizune shouted at Sarutobi, who flinched away from her.

"You don't understand, I can't let him be free because of the council, they refused to allow me to help him." The old man broke down, and however bad an excuse it was, it was the only one he had to go on.

"I can only hope that he doesn't turn his anger towards the village. Kami save anyone who steps on him wrong." Tsunade muttered.

Seething still Naruto ran faster than most eyes could perceive, back to the house that he now shared. He noticed that Hinata's window was open and used it as an entrance, not taking any time to think of what she might have been doing. Inside the room Hinata had been changing. Her hands were knotted into her shirt, having lifted it above her head, and she stood in her underwear. In that moment she sensed someone enter her room, and rounded to find a changed Naruto. His limiter had been released involuntarily. Knowing that her modesty was less important that both of their safety she walked over to Naruto, who's more primal instincts had taken over rather than his usual calm.

"I'm not sure what got you this angry love, however this just can't do." She spoke softly, running her hands over his hair, effectively calming some of it back towards the golden locks. His eyes met hers and a growl emerged from his throat. She paid it no mind however, used to the sounds because of the dragons of the three ninja. She proceeded to remove his jacket and his shirt, and moved to his back. There, covering most of the smooth skin of his back, was his limiter. It was a fierce looking black dragon with its teeth bared and fire billowing out of the sides of its mouth. The golden eyes of the dragon seemed to glow as she ran her hands over his back, massaging and scratching as she went, calming the tense muscles under her diligent hands.

"When you come back to your senses you will tell me what is going on, and if you go primal again I will bring you into the Forest of Death to hunt. My special massages aren't free you know." She joked, punching him lightly on the back of his head, which had changed back to regular hair. A sigh escaped the angered teen, and he flopped down onto her bed. She crawled onto it in front of him and sat on her knees.

"What happened dear." She asked, pulling him up into a sitting position.

"I found out that I had a sister, who was taken out of the village at a really young age, which is why I don't remember her, and trained while I was left here in this shithole to rot." He spat, still angry however significantly calmer now that Hinata had helped him.

"Does she look like you?" Hinata asked, knowing that he cared about her despite any anger he felt at the moment.

"She has moms hair, but dad's eyes. She is a perfect blend of them." He let a small smile don his face as he thought back. He probably should explain to her that she wasn't the source of his anger. In fact he was ecstatic knowing that he had family that was still alive.

"Can you send Lee to the office to retrieve her? I want to talk to her now that I'm calmer." He spoke softly. Hinata nodded, however her hands made their way to his face, and she ran her fingers over the scales that still covered his cheeks.

"It will give you time to get rid of these." She smiled and grabbed Lee, who was more than happy to run and grab her.

"What do I even say to her? How should I treat her? How does one have a sibling?" Naruto asked, completely confused. Hinata chuckled to herself and tapped Naruto on the head with her fist.

"You act normal. Protect her if she needs it, give her your love and attention. You treat her well." Hinata pat his back and retrieved his shirt and jacket from the floor.

After a few minutes of calm breathing the scales faded into his normal skin again, revealing his whisker marks once more. Hinata was both happy and conflicted. She knew that this girl was lovely because of who her brother was. She also felt that this girl was very sheltered. She may have traveled a lot however Naruto had the experience of two lifetimes. It was in that moment that two people arrived at the house. One of which was Andreas, who had been brought to the village by Ohen. The other was Naruto's sister Aikiko. Naruto sighed, pulled his clothing back on and made it down to the kitchen, suddenly nervous as hell. It was then that Aikiko entered the house. Naruto noticed a small blush on his male teammates face as he followed her in, and he knew in that instant that Lee had a crush. He made a mental note to give him shit later.

"Let me be the first to say I'm sorry. I can't control what happened to you, and for that I'm sorry." Aikiko blurted out bowing deeply. In that moment something compelled Naruto to walk up to her and pull her into a hug. Her head only went up t his collar bones, and he rested his head on top of hers.

"Its as you said, you had no control. I don't blame you. I want to get to know my sister." He spoke calmly to her. He could tell she was crying into his chest, and he felt Hinata's hand on his back, giving him some confidence.

"Now, wipe those tears away and lets get some dinner! I bought ramen makings!" Naruto called to the rest of the group both Hinata and Lee sighing. Nothing could break the blonde of his relationship with ramen, and it seemed like he wasn't the only one with one.

"You know how to make ramen?" His sister asked, stars in her eyes. Hinata figured it must have been a family thing, because suddenly Naruto and Aikiko were best friends.

"Of course! The village I trained in didn't have a ramen stand, so I had to teach myself how to make it." Naruto smirked, knowing that their relationship was going to prosper.

"So apparently a member of team 7 quit being a ninja, so I was assigned to that team, do you know anything about them?" Aikiko asked, knowing that her brother had actually lived in the village.

"All I can tell you is the guy is an asshole emo avenger, and the girl is a fangirl. That's the best they have." Hinata commented, shivering at the mention of a fangirl, which brought a chill up everyone else's spines as well.

"Are you the older sibling or the younger sibling Aikiko-san?" Lee asked, being a bit formal with the girl, he was older than she was by a year, and because she was the sister of his best friend he felt being nice would go a long way.

"Aikiko is fine Lee-kun, and I'm younger. Naruto-onii-san is older." Aikiko giggled, nudging the dark haired boy.

"So that makes you my imouto-chan?" Naruto said, liking the way the words sounded in his mouth.

"Yes it would Naruto-kun." Hinata smiled, putting her arms around Naruto's neck from behind. The casual touching was a common thing between them. They knew everything about each other, spare the feelings they mutually shared. Having matured a lot from their training, they both realized that while they had strong feelings, time would make them stronger, and thus have committed to being the best of friends to each other.

"And an adorable imouto-chan she is." Hinata continued. Aikiko liked Hinata immediately. A strong kunoichi without the need for a man to back her up, she was the exact person Aikiko liked to be around. As they made their way into the kitchen and Hinata was helping Naruto prepare the food, Aikiko stopped in the doorway.

"I was wondering actually, would I be able to move in with you? I don't take up a lot of space I promise." She asked, bowing again. Obviously the sharp temper of Tsunade did wonders on this girl, because she backed down quite quickly.

"Of course you can, we have a spare bedroom we can paint for you. Actually we just moved in today as well. We were on a training trip for a month. Speaking of Ohen is in back with Andreas-san." Naruto commented. All three of the dragons could be seen playing in the backyard with Andreas, who loved dragons more than he loved people. Aikiko's mouth opened in wonder as she wandered out into the backyard.

"They are beautiful!" She said, wanting to pet them but knowing to keep her hands to herself unless told otherwise.

"If I do say so myself you look astonishingly like my student Naruto. If you had blonde hair you'd be twins!" Andreas spoke, a wide smile on his face.

"She is my twin, we just found out a little while ago." Naruto chuckled putting his hand on her shoulder.

"The black one is my Ohen." Naruto pointed him out, and watched as he proudly spread his wings and lifted his head into the wind.

"He's also a little vain." Naruto muttered into Aikiko's ear, getting a giggle from her and a disgruntled groan from the dragon.

"Avrae is my dragon." Hinata smiled as the small female perched on her shoulders.

"And Ladon is my partner." Lee walked over to Ladon and pat the wingless dragon on the back. The rest of the evening followed with Naruto and Aikiko catching up, much to the pleasure of his teammates, who wanted him to be happy, and briefing Andreas of what the Chuunin Exams entitled for him.

"I get to watch my clansmen fight in their biggest fight yet? Of course I will act as your sensei." He spoke, putting a mental plan together. That evening Aikiko was set up in the spare bedroom, with Naruto and Hinata and Lee's rooms all around them. Andreas offered to sleep on the couch, however Naruto did one better and gave him the pull out bed.

The time arrived for the exams to start, and it was then that the three decided they would go through the village as they wished to be seen. No hiding anymore. This would be the biggest test they had yet, and they weren't going to fail now.

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And finito! We have come to our conclusion for this story, and for those of you who reviewed, I thank you. For the flame that I got, please note that your "review" has been deleted and the only reason I'm acknowledging that it happened was to tell you that I will delete flames like that in the future. If you have something constructive to say, great! If you don't, why bother telling me an opinion that doesn't really matter to me? Alright, thats over with. HOW DID YOU LIKE THE TWIST?


	3. Sealing the Future

Here it is! I am going to remove the flame response from before, mostly because if it happens again I'm just going to ignore it. My family, I have two younger cousins that both write for this site, one who writes Naruto related fanfiction and the other writes Harry Potter related fanfiction, and both of them have received similar flames. This is ridiculous.

Anyhoo, I finally got this finished, it was more difficult than I thought it would be, and I'm not as happy with it as I could be, but I got it out, and I might re-read and rewrite it if I find a bunch of glaring errors. One problem I've run into is that I keep losing documents, and I lose them after I've written most of the chapter, so I'm really behind with my other works.

Now that the serious stuff is over, please enjoy the latest chapter of Draconic Skies!

* * *

It didn't take long for Team Dragoon to prepare for the exams. Mostly it was preparing to have a good time. They knew that they were strong enough to do well, it was mostly they expected to fight strong opponents. Naruto informed Ohen that he wouldn't be needed for the first two rounds, and explained that he wanted the companion to be a surprise. It was then that the four genin, Naruto's team and Aikiko, walked to the gates of the Academy. Many of the villagers marveled at how both of the twins looked like two of the ninja from the last generation that they lost in the Kyuubi attack. It wasn't until they noticed the whisker marks on the taller boy's cheeks that they realized that the pariah of the village and widely proclaimed demon.

"Why are they staring at you Naruto-onii-san?" Aikiko asked him, having thought that he would be the village hero.

"Because people haven't pulled their heads out of their asses my dear imouto-chan." He smirked at her, no longer bothered by the looks they gave him. It was normal, and he grew up not being able to show that it bothered him, to the point that it stopped bothering him at all. Once they reached the Academy, it was obvious that the day was going to go downhill from there for Naruto. Almost immediately Sasuke spotted him.

"YOU! DOBE! How is it that you are the guy who beat me yesterday?! Its official, you are teaching me everything you know in this instant!" The boy demanded, having just realized that his former teammate was now taller than he was by a good half a foot.

"How about...no. I won't teach you. Also here is your new teammate. My sister Aikiko Uzumaki Namikaze." Naruto said and was quick to be ready to defend her.

"Don't slow us down." Sakura snapped at the girl, obviously mad that her new teammate was related to the person who she thought was the bane of her existence.

"I promise you I won't be the one to slow us down." Aikiko muttered back, her eyes turning ice cold as she glared at Sakura. The pink haired girl took a step back, noticing how the twins had the exact same glare, however she felt somewhere inside her that Naruto's was way worse that his sisters.

"Whatever. I say we go into the building rather than miss the exam because we stood outside the whole time." Hinata spoke, and grabbed both her teammates by the ear. Aikiko chuckled and followed, not bothering to wait for her supposed team. Naruto extracted himself from her grasp, knowing that she could have held him harder than she did, and walked with his hands in his pockets, a bored expression on his face as he walked passed the crowd of people and up the stairs.

"Stupid dobe, doesn't even know what floor he's on." Sasuke smirked about to walk into a classroom when two other genin stopped him.

"Are you sure he's wrong? You with the special genjutsu eyes." One of the genin spoke up. Naruto smiled to himself, and found the room they were looking for. Andreas stood outside, and nodded to each of his kids as they walked up to him.

"I'm proud of all three of you, now lets see you kick some ass." He smiled, giving them a pat on the back. Lee, feeling slightly brave, kicked the door in with his hands in his pockets much like Naruto did. The doors slammed open, making a good portion of the occupants of the room jump because of the sudden loud noise.

"Nice one Katsu." Naruto used his code name, not revealing their actual names just yet, however realizing that once Sasuke was there it would be letting the cat out of the bag.

"Thank you very much Arashi." Lee smiled and continued into the room. It didn't take long for the rookie nine to fill the room, and when they did only a few of them realized that Naruto and his gang had returned. Shikamaru was one of these people, and he kept quiet, knowing that it would get troublesome really fast should he say something. Another person who noticed, surprisingly, was Ino. She noticed Hinata first, admittedly, and marveled at how the once shy girl had changed so much over the trip. Hinata wore an outfit similar to the one she wore coming home, however her tank top was black, and she wore a leather jacket that had sleeves down to her elbows and was cut to stop right below her ribs. She wore her usual combat boots and black tactical pants with pouches. It was then that she took notice of the taller boys on either side of Hinata.

"Is that….Naruto?" She said to herself, however gaining the attention of everyone else as well. Kiba, who had always been a friend to Naruto, and self proclaimed rival, was astonished by him. He had shot up in height, and looked as though he could kill anyone in the room with ease. He wore a black tank top, free of his usual leather jacket because he didn't want to ruin it, while still wearing his black cargo pants with multiple pockets and seals. His belt was open for the other genin to see, as well as part of his tattoo. His hair was pulled back at the base of his neck.

"And…who are you?" Ino turned to Lee and quirked her head to the side. Two of the three in the group she could recognize from Konoha, however the third she couldn't put her finger on.

"Yamanaka-san, I'm hurt." Lee sighed. After having been raised by someone other than an orphanage and Might Guy, Lee had changed not only his style but also most of his looks. He no longer went towards having the large eyebrows, and he didn't force his eyes open as far as he did before. He realized that he didn't need to look like a deer in camp-light anymore.

"Lee?!" Ino shouted in surprise. The guy in front of her was tall dark and just as interesting as Sasuke had been before he went a little power hungry. He wore a tan hooded shirt that revealed his collar bones enough to show his tattoo, as well as a black leather style coat over that. His pants were black and were tucked into black boots. With an appraising last look at the new Lee, she glanced back at Naruto.

Ino was mad at Sakura for what she had done to Naruto, who Ino noted here looked twice as attractive as he had before he'd left. He'd always had an attractive face but his personality didn't match. He was all over the place and stood out from everyone else. He was a troublemaker and an idiot, but the person in front of her was none of those. Another person was interested in Naruto's crew, and he cleared his throat and walked up the group of genin.

"Hey, its not a good idea to attract so much attention so early. Many of the people here are from new villages, and they are on edge already." He spoke, his glasses shielding his eyes from being seen.

"Isn't it rude to not introduce yourself Creepy onii-san." Hinata said, shocking everyone at the lack of a stutter.

"It is indeed. I am Kabuto. I have taken this exam 7 times. So you could say I've been around the block a few times." He spoke, pulling the cards he had out of his pouch.

"Alrighty then. And do you want to play poker with us or something? Because you could say I have the devils luck." Naruto smirked, gaining a mischievous look on his face. Hinata then remembered the time that Andreas decided to take a then 8 year old Naruto into a Casino. The whole place went bankrupt after Naruto was done, and he was banned from most of the Casino's in the world, holding the name of Devil.

"These are info cards, where if I put chakra into them I can get info on any country and any person, so long as they have a name." Kabuto smirked in response.

"I want information on Hinata Hyuuga, Rock Lee, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sabaku no Gaara." Sasuke stepped in and immediately demanded info.

"Those people huh? Lets start with Hinata Hyuuga. First daughter of the Clan Head Hiashi Hyuuga and heiress to the clan. She has been on 50 D rank missions, and 1 B-rank. It is said that the training trip she went on for a month was paid as a B-rank. Her abilities are listed only as The Gentle Fist. Next we have Rock Lee who has been on the same amount of missions, and has no ninjutsu or genjutsu abilities. It is said that his taijutsu is unrivalled, except by Might Guy. No further information. Nartuo Uzumaki, who has been on…what? 50 D rank, 1-A rank and 1-B rank. He has subpar abilities. Lastly is Gaara, son of the Kazekage of the Sand, he has been on 50 D-rank, 3-C rank, and 1-A rank. It's said that he's never once been injured on a mission." Kabuto finished.

"Do you have any info on the village of Otogakura?" Naruto asked, hoping to learn more about the new village.

"It says that they were recently established, and as such I would assume they are nothing to worry about." Kabuto said nonchalantly, brushing aside the request.

"Did you hear that Zaku? They are saying we are weak because we are new." The female of the group, a girl by the name of Kin, commented with a glare. "Maybe we should give them a little Oto greeting." Dosu a male on the team, who had bandages over his face spoke. It was then that he went charging forward in order to attack the group of Konoha genin that had gathered to one side of the room. Lee, who had caught sight of this early, phased out of sight and appeared behind Dosu who had stopped suddenly. A moment went by where no one other than Naruto and Hinata could figure out what had happened, when finally Dosu collapsed to the ground unconscious.

"You should take better control of your teammates Oto-san." Lee said, grabbing the unconscious genin by the back of his shirt and tossing him at his teammates as if he were light as a feather.

"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS! Anymore fighting without permission will get you disqualified! Now, I am the proctor of the first part of the Chuunin Exams, Ibiki Morino. You will listen to me. If you fail this exam, you will be barred from taking the exam again." Ibiki shouted to be heard over the roar of genin. Naruto took one last glance back at Kabuto, not trusting him at all, mostly because of his lack of skill to pass a test. After 7 tries one would think that they would be able to figure out what they were doing wrong the first few times. Naruto followed Ibiki's instructions and took his seat, next to Hinata. He glanced around him, taking note of where everyone was, and where the Chuunin were. Scattered throughout the room were Chuunin of various age and disguises, some played civilian looking genin, while most just held good henges up. Satisfied with the rooms new layout he focused on the Bandana wearing shinobi.

"This is the first part of the exam. You have an hour to complete it, and after that time, if you are still here, you get the 10th question. There will be no cheating on this test. If I catch you cheating, your entire team will lose 2 points, and if it keeps up and you lose 10 points total you are disqualified. Now, after you receive your paper you may begin." Ibiki instructed, taking a seat at the desk at the front of the room and slamming his boots on the counter. Hinata figured out right away what the point was, along with Naruto and Lee and all three of them sent their eyes into dragon form. It picked up on hand movement, as well as had almost a 360 degree sight range, due to where a dragons eyes would be on their heads. The only problem is a dragons sight is made for night, and stalking prey, so the sight they were getting was only within a few people around them. It was more than enough however, and each had time to spare once they had answers down.

Soon it was obvious that people were getting desperate for answers. Many had been disqualified, however none of the rookie nine had, none of the Otokagure team and none of the Suna teams had either. Naruto had completed his test, and had even left a note on the back of it for Ibiki to find. He'd used a mental connection he had to Ohen to ask the dragon to find where Oto was, and to ask Andreas to do some research on Kabuto. In doing so, he discovered that Kabuto was more likely than not a spy for the new village, who had infiltrated under the guise of a leaf shinobi. It was then that the test was announced over, and everyone focused back on Ibiki.

"Now, I'm going to give you the 10th question, and if you don't think you can handle it, you will back out now. Know that if you answer it wrong, you will never be able to take the Chuunin exams again." Ibiki said ominously. Many teams were outraged by this. Naruto scoffed and put his feet up on his desk, much like Ibiki did at the beginning of the test. After a few teams raised their hands and were escorted out Naruto had had enough.

"Do you really think that some measly life changing question is going to change my answer? You have the wrong idea of leaf shinobi. Just give us the last question so that we can pass and become Chuunin." He called to the front. The T and I unit shinobi smirked and removed his bandana. Littering his face and head were scars from torture.

"Chuunin are known to have to carry and deliver secure documents to other countries, and being able to withstand torture, mental or physical, is part of the job. So either this young man has a mind a solid as stone, or he's a complete idiot." Ibiki explained to the group. Naruto pouted as Hinata giggled next to him and elbowed him in the side.

Many tried to argue the point to the last question, and the rest were more focused on the small spot that appeared in the sky and was getting closer and closer to the window. Naruto noticed it and moved slightly forward in his chair, protecting Hinata from the spray of glass that occurred when the object, now identified as a person wrapped in a banner, crashed through the window.

"I am Anko Mitarashi! Your proctor for the second part of the exam! Man Ibiki! Are you slacking this year? How could you let so much fresh prey into my exam!" The woman called to Ibiki, who had been pinned behind the banner. Anko wore a very revealing outfit, consisting of a trench coat over a fishnet body suit, that did nothing to cover the essentials, a mini skirt and shin guards. Her hair was pulled up while some of it hung down over her forehead protector.

"There are some impressive kids this year Anko." Ibiki could be heard from where he was hidden. Anko nodded glancing around the room. Some of the kids she knew from seeing them around the village, a few had been missing for a little while and those three she wanted to keep her eye on. As a proctor she couldn't actively say that she was placing her money on that newer team, Team Dragoon, because she needed to stay neutral to the other opponents. However, because of the rumor about them she wanted to see all that they were capable of.

"Now is time for the second part of the exam! Ain't no rest for the wicked! Follow me!" Anko called, leaping out the window that she'd shattered. Naruto got up from his seat and followed her immediately, along with Lee and Hinata. Many of the other participants were hesitant, however at seeing the confidence that the other group had they followed suit. Ibiki was cleaning up the room when he found the note that Naruto had left on the back of his test.

_Dear Ibiki-san,_

_I am leaving this note to warn you that Kabuto, a listed genin in Konoha, is in league with traitor Orochimaru. I did research on him when I found out about his constant failure of the exam, 7 times to be exact, and found that he is part of a planned invasion. _

_ Arashi. _

"Well I'll be damned." Ibiki muttered, taking the paper to the office where the rest of the sensei's were waiting.

"Guys, we have a big problem." He said to all of them.

Naruto and the rest of the gang followed Anko peacefully through the village, in the direction of their home, and towards what seemed to be the Forest of Death. Naruto had his hands tucked into his pockets and was just chatting with Hinata when they arrived at the fence that surrounded training ground 44.

"Alright gather round gather round. This training ground, for those not from Konoha, is called the Forest of Death." Anko smirked at everyone, hoping to see some impressed faced, and for the most part, foreign ninja seemed slightly intimidated. Naruto whistled sarcastically, and caught the kunai that Anko threw at him.

"We seem to have an excited group this year, but you need to stay on your guard." Anko spoke, strutting her way over to Naruto to retrieve her weapon. Naruto smirked in response and gestured to either side of Anko, where both Lee and Hinata had their claws at her neck. The woman had attacked the leader of their squad, and Naruto knew that they would respond in kind.

"Alright you two, all in good faith." Naruto called them off, and they stepped back to stand on either side of him.

"I'd do the same for them, before you make a rude comment." He put his arms around his teammates shoulders. Anko sighed, wishing she didn't have to proctor for this group. She wanted so badly to be able to bet on that team.

"This is where the second part of your exam will take place. You will be given one of two scrolls, heaven or earth. You must retrieve a scroll from another team that has the opposite scroll. So if you have heaven, you need earth. So on and so forth. You have five days to do so, and you are not permitted to leave the grounds. In the center of the training grounds is a tower, which is where you have to go. Now I need you all to sign this waiver to agree that if you die in this round Konoha is not responsible for your death." Anko finished and passed out a bunch of papers. Naruto and his team signed theirs immediately, knowing that if they didn't they couldn't take the test. Naruto had been glancing around and realized that a lot of glares were going his way. He glared back at all of these people, who shuttered at the coldness of his eyes.

"I will pass the scrolls out now, and you will go to the nearest gate that isn't occupied. You have ten minutes to make sure you are prepared." Anko finished.

"Naruto-onii-san, are you excited?!" Aikiko asked, leaving Sakura and Sasuke to their own thoughts and devices. Aikiko lived on the road for long enough that she lived out of storage scrolls, so everything she would need she had on her.

"I am my cute Imouto-chan. I always liked more practical stuff than mind stuff anyway." Naruto smiled. Hinata had wandered over to Ino, who had stopped fangirling over Sasuke at some point in the month that they had been gone, and had even started to warm up to the now outgoing blue haired girl. Lee was getting angry glances from Neji, who still thought that Lee getting a special training trip was against fate.

"ALRIGHT! You will move out now, the Scroll is at the gate. Good luck." Anko said, leaping off into the forest. Hinata lead her team over to the first unoccupied gate, and discreetly checked what kind of scroll they had, before sealing it into a small storage seal on her wrist.

"We need an earth scroll." She told her teammates, who nodded and stood before the gate. A loud alarm went off, and the gates all opened at once. Team Dragoon shot off like rockets, using their better vision, considering how dark the forest was, to track down the nearest team. Naruto made a mental point to avoid Aikiko's team, because he didn't want to have to deal with his former teammates, but he also didn't want the off chance that they had the scroll that Naruto's needed. Hinata's Byakugan was activated, and when she stopped suddenly Naruto and Lee stopped next to her.

"There is a team up ahead, they are fighting another team though. Should we advance in their direction or continue to find another team?" She asked, glanced at Lee and Naruto waiting to hear their decision.

"Lets see how their fight plays out. Head over there but keep your presence hidden." Naruto instructed and proceeded reign in his killing intent and his chakra signature. His teammates followed suit and took to the treetops, which also helped them to locate the tower across the forest. When they arrived they found the Suna team, and discovered that the team they had run into had been killed via sand. Naruto was impressed, to say the least, however from his vantage point, as well as how he'd hidden his presence he couldn't express it. He signed a few words to Hinata and Lee, then proceeded to jump down from the top of the tree. As he fell he decided to have a chat with his tenant.

_Oi, Kyuubi. Oi. KURAMA!_ Naruto shouted internally.

_**What, you insufferable lizard worshiper**_,the deep voiced demon murmured in response. He hated to be woken up in such a manner.

_Think you can give the red haired boy a blast of chakra? _Naruto asked, already knowing who the boy was, and what he carried.

_**To that lazy raccoon? Fuck yeah**_,Kurama smirked. He enjoyed scaring his brothers once in a while, and he hadn't done it in quite some time. Naruto felt the chakra swelling inside him, and he sent a solid but pinpoint blast of it towards Gaara. Upon being hit by the chakra the red headed genin jumped back with his eyes as wide as they could possibly grow. Whatever calm he had was broken by the pure concentrated Biju chakra.

"Gaara…whats wrong?" Temari asked, not having seen Naruto yet. Kankuro had the right idea and looked to the sky. Seeing the long haired blonde fall as if it were nothing caused him to take a step back, into Temari who stumbled to the ground. Naruto had told Hinata and Lee to stay in the tree as backup, however he doubted he would need it.

"You! What do you want?" Temari demanded, however she was ignored as Naruto walked closer to Gaara.

"Your seal is faulty. And there's another two seals placed on it. An insomnia seal and a berserker seal. Fucking idiots. That's the worst way to handle a jinchuuriki." Naruto sighed, shaking his head. In that second he had weapons place on his neck.

"Who told you?" Kankuro demanded.

"My tenant. You'll recognize the name of Kyuubi correct?" Naruto smirked at the siblings as they stepped back in fear. Gaara could hear his "mother" screaming in his head to kill the bastard who acted like someone named "Kurama" and while normally Gaara would comply something told him to ignore the voice.

"I can fix that. Give you sleep, let you feel moderately human again. Even fix that stupid berserker seal so your tenant wouldn't be driving you mad." Naruto spoke, getting all three foreign genin to stare at him.

"You don't believe me." He pointed out, stating what was obvious.

"Why should we trust an enemy genin?" Kankuro challeneged,

"Because I'm the best seal master around. Unless you'd like to ask Jiraiya, who is a pervert." Naruto raised his eyebrow at Temari who blushed and glared at him.

"But that doesn't answer my question. Why should we trust you?" Kankuro stepped in front of his sister.

"Because I already know about your little invasion plan with Orochimaru, and I've taken measures to stop it. Also, I know the problem of living with another being in my mind. I want to help a brother." Naruto answered. Temari cursed and stepped away as they stopped to think.

"I know you already have your second scroll, so I'll meet your team at the tower after we get ours. Be ready for the adjusted sealing, it will take some time to do, and I'll be having my partner, who is also a sealing master, help out. Your siblings aren't allowed in the sealing chamber because of how dangerous it could be if they were to interfere halfway through. You have my word as a shinobi, as a Draconic Warrior, and as a jinchuuriki that I wish you no harm. Other than to harm the plans to attack this village." Naruto chuckled. Gaara nodded, ignoring his tenant and only felt a small swell of excitement for the idea of being able to sleep peacefully. Kankuro and Temari were still skeptical, however the boy seemed to know more than anyone else did. A moment had passed when a surge of very evil feeling chakra resounded through the forest. Naruto's head shot up, and he jumped back into the trees following the chakra immediately. Hinata and Lee followed, and not long after they came to an area that had been destroyed by what looked like a wind jutsu. Naruto put his guard up immediately, and found that while Sakura and Sasuke were struggling against the Kiri ninja they had seen before, his sister was nowhere to be found.

"Shit…she must have been blown back by the wind…Katsu, go find her. Hikari you are with me. We are going to stop this." Lee nodded and ran in the opposite direction, searching for Aikiko as he went. Naruto stepped in front of Sasuke and blew him back with a wind technique before stopping the foreign ninja, who had extended her neck to an abnormal place.

"Another group of interesting ninja. You're power is not because of chakra? I must study that." The voice the left her throat was deeper, and creepier than Naruto had expected, and in that moment he knew he was dealing with Orochimaru. The snakes head darted behind Naruto before he could really react, and bit Sasuke on the neck. The black haired genin screamed for all it was worth and then passed out.

"I left him a little gift, it'll help him achieve his goals, I can hope the same for you two." Orochimaru hissed and struck at Naruto. A moment passed before a chuckle escaped out of Naruto's mouth.

"As if. Our skin can't be penetrated by anything weaker than it is. That's the thing about us foreign warriors, chakra isn't our only trump card." Orochimaru pulled back suddenly and put his hand to his mouth. The fangs he'd used to bite Sasuke had broken, and were now useless to him.

"Not that we don't appreciate getting gifts, we'd rather not get them from a pedophile who likes to bite little boys." Hinata sneered. This outraged Orochimaru, and he peeled away the false face, showing his true eyes, and opened his mouth as wide as it would go. His tongue snaked out of his mouth and a sword appeared.

"I shall enlighten you as to what this is. My precious-"

"Chit chat. That's all this is. You're stalling." Naruto called, interrupting the Snake Sannin.

"As I was saying…my precious sword can-"

"UGH! Chit chat! If you want to fight lets fight, if you want to chat, write a fucking book and I'll read it later." Naruto whistled, however it wasn't the whistle for Ohen, it was a high pitched whistle that caught the attention of one Special Jounin who was running through the forest searching for her former sensei.

"Whatever you called here, I can handle it." The man spoke in response, however the whistle did work to slightly disorient him.

"Oh I didn't call a something. But I'm sure you'll see." Naruto said, waiting for Lee to get back with his sister. A moment later the black haired boy appeared, carrying Aikiko princess style, while it appeared that she was holding on for dear life.

"Lee…did you traumatize my sister?" Naruto turned, ignoring the danger in front of him.

"I sure hope not. All I did was find her and carry her here." Lee stated.

"Did you drop your weights to do it?" Naruto continued asking. Hinata was keeping an eye on Orochimaru, who was getting increasingly frustrated that not only were these brats not taking him seriously, they were ignoring him. Finally he threw a few kunai towards the chatting group, however they were caught by Hinata and Lee.

"Can't you see we are having a conversation?" Lee turned, giving Orochimaru a look, before summoning tree roots from the ground to suspend the man into the air by his limbs.

"Now hush. No, I didn't drop my weights. I wanted to retrieve your sister, not kill her. No offense Aikiko, I'd imagine you are a very strong girl but the speeds I can move at are not suitable for those who have never reached them." Lee spoke, looking between the siblings. Aikiko had started to struggle, because she was still being held in his arms, and while she didn't really mind, mostly because he was attractive to her, she would rather keep some of her dignity in front of her brother.

"You…insufferable children!" The sannin roared. Hinata knew that this was all a ploy to not only distract the sannin so that reinforcements could arrive, but also to piss him off. Sakura stood to one side, finally realizing that all her efforts to fight back were in vain, and that the group that stood before her were on a whole other level. Sasuke was still passed out, and Sakura darted forward and dragged him into a cave not far away. Hinata nodded, seeing Sakura do the smartest thing yet, and turned back towards where she'd felt a new chakra signature. She jumped off to find Anko, who had heard the whistle and knew now which direction to go in.

"Yes, that's exactly what we are. But you know what that makes you?" Naruto asked, knowing that Anko was almost there, and that Hinata was intercepting her to make sure everything worked out.

"What, you bumbling buffoon!" Orochimaru shouted, having shed the skin of the person he'd used to get into the exams and escaping the roots that held him.

"An idiot!" Anko shouted, raining down a hailstorm of kunai and shurikens, effectively taking her former sensei by surprise, however not for long.

"Ah yes, my little student. How is village life treating you?" The snake sannin asked, knowing already how the village treated her.

"I can say they hate you more than they hate me, and that in and of itself is a compliment!" Anko state, going into the jutsu's she'd learned after being left by the man. She never let him get her down, and she never showed the village that they got to her, as such she had a lot of pent up frustration, and was currently taking it out on the source. Naruto and Lee were employing guerilla warfare, in jumping in landing hits and running out before eventually the Sannin realized he was being pressed back.

"I shall retreat for now, but know, this is not the end! I will be back to finish what was started, to get what I deserve." The man shouted, and ran off with Anko following close behind.

"Well. That went well. Now, Sakura, I'm gong to do something here that might hurt." Hinata said, with a startled pink haired girl moving away from her. A swift hit to the back of the neck and the girl was out cold.

"Naruto-kun, you need to see this. Both of these." Hinata spoke. Naruto walked over to where both Sasuke and Sakura lay prone on the ground. Sakura was first, and on the back of her neck was a seal.

"I noticed it the other day, however now I can do something about it. I want your help in breaking this seal. It shouldn't be too difficult, however I'm not sure what it will do to her mental status. We will deal with Sasuke when that time comes." Hinata spoke, pulling out her ink and brush. Naruto nodded and Lee stood outside the cave, keeping guard.

"What is it with evil-doers and their compulsion to put seals on people. What good does it do?" Naruto muttered working along side Hinata who nodded in agreement. The seal wasn't complicated, as she'd said, but it was clinging pretty tight to the girl, and took a lot more out of Hinata to release it than she thought it would. Once it was done, Sakura's hair took a slightly darker tone, turning from cherry blossom pink to a warmer pink.

"Something tells me that was the work of Danzou. However we have no proof. When she wakes up, sit with her and talk with her. We need to see where she is." Naruto spoke, turning his attention to Sasuke, however he was interrupted by the sounds of fighting from outside the cave.

"Shit. They must have timed it to when we weren't paying attention." Hinata cursed, and darted out of the cave. Naruto followed to find the three Oto ninja from the beginning of the exam fighting against Lee and Aikiko. Both were having an easy time with the opponents they had, however the third of the group was sneaking attacks in every so often and landing some hits. Naruto charged in on her and subdued her peacefully while the other two were taken care of. A dark aura left the cave, and out walked Sasuke, covered in black markings.

"Let me test this new power on them. They'll be a great first trial." Sasuke spoke, his voice taking a lower tone.

"Lee, Hinata, get the genin away from here. I'll take him." Naruto called, having the rest of his team gather the others and run away.

"That's just fine. I can take you down now." Sasuke smirked, his eyes taking on an opposite look, where the whites of his eyes turned black and his pupils were red.

"Do you really think that he gave you that power for your benefit only? That pedophile?" Naruto asked, watching Sasuke falter slightly. It was true that there would be no reason to randomly give someone power and do nothing with it.

"I don't care. He hasn't used me yet, and I can still take my revenge!" Sasuke shouted lunging at Naruto. The power had made him faster, but it did not make him any better of a fighter, so Naruto still had the advantage. A few moments of brawling left Naruto thinking that he'd need to knock the other boy out in order to get to the seal, and so he did just that. Using his kenpo, he flash stepped behind the other boy and struck him on the back of the neck. Seizing the opportunity to keep him from attacking once he woke up, Naruto tied him face first to the tree. He then tore the other boys shirt away from the seal, only to find two more in addition to the new one.

"What the ever living fuck is wrong with this village. Seriously." Naruto curse, analyzing the other two. The one on the center of his back was an anger seal, partnered with a hatred seal. The other seal was a seal Naruto had never seen before, however he realized the components as he studied it. The first layer of the seal was to induce self imposed segregation. He would purposely separate himself from others. The second layer was jealousy upon improvement. The third layer was for vengeance. Naruto scoffed and worked fast to release Sasuke from all of the seals before he would be killed by them. That many on one person would inevitably lead to them counteracting each other and killing the bearer.

"First thing I do for this village after I come back is removing seals. What the fuck." Naruto muttered to himself. The seal Orochimaru left would be slightly more difficult to remove, because it contained samples of his own blood. It would take pure blood from a separate source to remove, and Naruto had just the source. A quick whistle on his part brought all of the genin back to him. Sakura had woken up and had yet to stop apologizing for all of her misdoings.

"Sakura, we forgive you. Now we need your help. I need to draw a sample of your blood and use it to counteract this seal. Can I do that?" Naruto asked. Sakura seemed surprised, however nodded adamantly and exposed her arm to Naruto. He used one of his nails to draw some blood, and quickly began to work is into the sealing ink, before smearing it over his teeth and biting Sasuke over the seal. Using his chakra he worked it into the blood stream using his will and eliminated the evil chakra and blood. Naruto pulled back and spat out the remaining blood a few times before taking a flask out and washing his mouth out with alcohol.

"Did it work?" Hinata asked.

"It should have. The seal hadn't taken to his chakra network yet, and so It was easy to eliminate before it had ingrained itself." Naruto sighed and sat down on the ground.

"I swear to god. If this village has sealed anymore of its genin for stupid shit like this we are defecting." Naruto ground out, smoke starting to escape his throat. Lee chuckled and dropped the ninja he was holding.

"Now then. Back to you three. You do realize that you were basically canon fodder for him right?" Lee asked, pointing at Sasuke, who'd been taken down from the tree.

"We serve only our master. It doesn't matter what he has us do." One of the team members spoke.

"Your choice, but we are still keeping you captive unless you give us info." Naruto spoke, grabbing the female member of the team and throwing her over his shoulder.

"I don't want to be killed for squealing on my country." The girl muttered. Naruto glanced at her before looking to both Hinata and Lee, who heard what she'd said.

"You won't be. You can take asylum in Konoha in exchange for info. We would protect you." Lee spoke.

"You can promise that?" The girl asked, hesitant to agree.

"We can. While we are strong we aren't really well liked, so more often than not we are left alone." Hinata shrugged.

"My name is Kin Tsuchi." She said her name, getting a polite smile from Hinata, who was walking next to Naruto. The boys from her team were silent, however similar thoughts were going through their heads. If they could get protection, they'd gladly leave. Having their lives be taken as a test for an enemy ninja, by order of their leader was bad. Sakura had calmed down significantly, and while she wasn't talking, everyone could tell that she felt guilty. No one spoke as everyone made their way towards the tower. Naruto had procured multiple scrolls by using clones, and had enough for both their team and Aikiko's team to pass. They put the scrolls together and both Iruka and Kurenai appeared in front of them. Without saying a word Iruka glanced at Naruto with a question in his eyes.

"We have caught and bound three foreign genin who were working in coordination with one Orochimaru. We wish to confine them to our home for protection from their former leader, as well as to employ Inoichi Yamanaka to question them on their actions prior to this exam." Naruto stated, placing Kin on her feet, but leaving the rope that bound her on.

"I understand, I'll bring them to your home. In the mean time you all must stay here. Sasuke is uninjured correct? I do not want to have to call a healer." Iruka sighed. Naruto smirked and shook his head. The black haired boy had yet to wake up, and was being supported by Aikiko. There was no way of knowing how he was going to act once he woke up, however there was hope that he would have changed at least slightly. Naruto and Hinata headed away from the group to seal the last, hopefully, of the genin, and then Naruto planned on taking a long nap. He was tired of the shit that the village, and its supposed allies, were pulling on the children they used as their army. All villages started their military training off early, some earlier than others, however most of the villages had children as the main force. Naruto had been taught by Andreas that while the strength of adults could be great, the strength of many was the deciding factor.

"Last one." Naruto muttered to himself, getting a small chuckle from Hinata. Naruto was exhausted, but he'd made a promise and he would keep it. When he found Gaara and his siblings, almost immediately they jumped up.

"Our room is right here. We will wait out here, but just know, if you hurt him in any way we will kill you, allies or not." Kankuro spoke, grinding his teeth. Gaara glanced at his brother and then his sister, before walking through the door. Naruto followed, along with Hinata, and they put silencing seals up around the room, along with defensive barriers.

"Mother is calling for me to kill you, but I know I can't." Gaara spoke, his voice hushed slightly.

"Yeah, well Kurama says that 'mother' should shut his mouth." Naruto responded, not looking at Gaara but feeling the biju's chakra slightly leaking out in anger.

"That berserker seal must have really messed up Shukaku, because according to Kurama, that brother of his was normally the calm one." Naruto glanced at Hinata. She nodded, laying down the groundwork for the ground seals. They would need to bind Gaara to the ground in order to keep his chakra and the biju's chakra from escaping into tower. Once that was done, Naruto began to draw the seal lines onto Gaara that would keep him still while Naruto worked with the different layers of it. It would be trickier than Sasuke's, which was done in an extreme situation, because of how much was at stake. Once everything was set Naruto began his work. The layers were tight, and took quite a bit to work through, however Naruto could see the relief on Gaara's face when the insomnia seal was lifted. The last seal to work with was the berserker seal, and that was the most difficult one. It clung to the first seal like glue, and it took some of Naruto's chakra mixed with Kurama's to break it. Finally they were down to the base seal, which held the Ichibi inside. Naruto began to restructure it, making it so that Gaara could use Shukaku's chakra without any influences from the biju, however he also made the seal slightly similar to his own, in that the boy would be healed whenever injured. It was a long process, and by the time they were done Gaara had fallen asleep, and Hinata was not far behind.

"I'm done. Take your brother, we will clean this up tomorrow, after we sleep." Naruto spoke, picking Hinata up and carrying her back to their room. Not bothering to put her in her own bed, he tucked them both into his and passed out.

* * *

I'm really happy with the length of this chapter, and the contents, I'm just unsure of how well I got it down. I hope people enjoyed some of the little twists I added in, and I do have some pretty major plans for it. Especially considering I've opened a lot of doors in my own head. I didn't really go through for grammar or spelling this time, mostly because I'm honestly too lazy to do it. Thanks for reading!


	4. Words Unspoken

This took way longer than I thought it would to get out, I had such a hard time finding inspiration that I ended up putting it aside for longer than I wanted to. That having been said, I did my best to write it well enough for my own personal standard, and it is as long as those before it so I'm happy with that. In regards to flames, beyond this point I will no longer acknowledge that they happened, and will delete and report them. If people wish to be cowardly then so be it.

* * *

Naruto rolled over and stood up from the bed, tucking the blankets back over Hinata as he did, making his way to the bathroom. It was still nighttime, and so he walked in the dark to find the room, not wanting to blind himself with the lights. As he walked however he realized that there was another person in the room other than his team. He activated his dragons eyes, releasing some of his limiter to do so, and saw someone sitting on the floor. Because his eyes were fitted to see the heartbeat of his prey and their blood flow, he couldn't distinguish the intruders identity.

"Who are you." Naruto demanded.

"It's me. Sasuke." The voice responded, and it was indeed Sasuke.

"Why are you in our room? Get out." Naruto sighed, moving towards the boy.

"Wait, wait! I woke up a little while ago, and realized that I'd been a complete ass to not only you but Sakura as well. I wanted to apologize." The boy spoke. He sounded like he meant it, however Naruto had a hard time trusting him.

"I haven't earned your trust yet, but I really do regret it. I couldn't control what came out of my mouth, and how I acted. I could see everything that was going on, but I couldn't control it at all." Sasuke spoke, his voice still quiet because both Lee and Hinata were still asleep.

"You were sealed, three times. You were forced to do those things. But this is a very sudden change. You never regretted anything, even before you became a genin." Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"I know. I think that seal was there since I was a child. I think it was put on me when I was too young to remember. I don't remember any of the seals except the one you and Orochimaru gave me. Did you have to bite me as well?" Sasuke asked.

"I did. It was the only way to get the blood in without any weird mixing. I didn't like it either teme." Naruto sighed. Sasuke visibly flinched at the nickname, which was a small surprise to Naruto.

"You really are different aren't you." Naruto muttered, stepping forward and pulling the boy off the floor.

"I want to prove to you that I'm not the same, but I know that would take a while. I just wanted to apologize to you." Sasuke spoke, as he was escorted to the door.

"Go sleep. We can talk more tomorrow. I want to sleep. You, Sakura, and Gaara all had seals on you and I'm really tired." Naruto spoke, closing the door after him.

"That went well." Hinata muttered, still under the blanket where Naruto left her. He chuckled, used the restroom and then crawled back into the bed with Hinata.

"You could have put me in my own bed." She chuckled, however she didn't move.

"I was too lazy." Naruto muttered, nuzzling her head with his nose. She smelled like lavender and cinnamon rolls, which was a calming smell.

"I want to be with Avrae again." She muttered.

"She can join the next fight if you wish." Naruto smiled. He wrapped his arm around the girls waist and pulled her slightly closer to him, before nodding off one more time. Hinata smiled to herself, happy to be so close to her crush. The next morning they were both woken up by Lee, who was chuckling the whole time.

"I figured you'd want food at some point. They have a cafeteria here." He spoke. He'd put on a pair of blue jeans and a grey cotton shirt. Naruto nodded numbly, still very much asleep. Hinata was in the same position, hair in her face and eyes that were glazed over. Naruto found her even more adorable in that second and hugged her close, before getting up and pulling a black tank top over his head and a pair of drawstring sweatpants. A pair of sandals and he was set for the morning. Hinata pulled her hair into a loose bun, and pulled a pair of stretchy Capri pants over her legs, before walking to the bathroom.

Lee laughed at his teammates, remembering that they were in no way morning people. He led his groggy friends to get food, and ended up meeting up with Kiba and Shikamaru, who were in the same boat. The boys nodded to everyone without saying anything, while they grabbed a plate of food each. Naruto grabbed a bagel and sat down with it when everyone else joined him. The sun was in his face, and he squinted painfully, while gnawing on his bagel like a zombie. He stopped, got up, and walked away, before a huge shutter went through the building. Everyone within could feel it move in what seemed to be a semicircle, before it finally stopped. Naruto returned to the table, sun no longer on his face as he continued to eat his bagel with dull, however still gold eyes.

"Did you…just move the whole building to get the sun off of your face? Lee asked, astonished at the extreme response. Naruto just chuckled, before taking a long swig of his coffee.

"I wouldn't call it laziness…" Temari commented, catching the attention of Shikamaru. The pineapple haired genin stared at her, unabashed as she shook her head.

"Konoha shinobi are crazy." Kankuro muttered to himself. Finally Naruto and Hinata were awake enough, and so they left with Lee to get some training in. Naruto had found Sasuke at some point during those days, and sat down with him.

"You can't let anyone know that we adjusted your seals. You have to act like an asshole again." Naruto spoke, getting a strange look from Sasuke.

"If everyone hated me as an asshole why would I act like one again? What purpose does that serve?" He asked with a snort.

"Because we must fool our enemies who plan on invading during the exam." Naruto explained. He continued on to talk him through how to act and what to say, before they fell into silence.

"Thanks for the help. You know, even though I couldn't tell you before, you're like the brother I needed after my family was killed. I didn't appreciate that before, but I do now." Sasuke reached out, grasping Naruto at the elbow, while Naruto did the same.

"Brothers?" Sasuke asked with a grin.

"Brothers." Naruto agreed.

Three days had passed, following the same pattern until finally they were called to the stadium, where they lined up in their teams.

"Congratulations to all who passed the Second exam! However, before we can continue to the Third part of the exam, we must cut down on some of the numbers. Allow me to explain why these exams are held while names are placed into our system for a random drawing. The nations decided to hold these exams as a form of war prevention. While allies are formed and peace is spread through the world, we must remember that our countries are in a state of constant stalemate. We must remember who we are and what we fight for." The Third Hokage stood in his box and announced to all below. Everyone nodded, listening to his explanation.

"Now, I shall turn my microphone over to your next proctor. Hayate Gékko." The man stepped forward and began to speak.

"Is there anyone who does not feel as though they can fight?" At first no one raised their hands, however after a pause, Kabuto did.

"I used too much chakra in the second phase. I will resign." He spoke, a small smirk on his face. Naruto made subtle handsigns at Ibiki, who sent ANBU after the rogue ninja.

"Alright, now we have an even amount of competitors." Naruto glanced around, and spotted Dosu's team, and realized that to keep up with the ploy of not knowing about the invasion, they'd need to fight still. Naruto nodded to Kin, who glanced at him. She nodded back and whispered to her teammates, who regarded Naruto's team as well. They seemed to have calmed down, and saw the reason to their "capture."  
"The first fight will be…Yoroi vs. Sasuke!" Hayate called, while both ninja jumped down into the arena. Sasuke stood across from his opponent, attempting to act snobbish. He narrowed his eyes and stuck his nose in the air.

"Shake hands." Hayate commanded of the ninja. Sasuke sneered and looked away, not bothering to put his hand out. Naruto nodded and glanced at his opponent. This was supposedly a genin from their village, however Naruto had never seen him around, much less heard of him before.

(Canon Fight)

"And the winner is…Sasuke Uchiha!" Naruto watched as the boy breathed a sigh of relief, subtle to most people however Naruto was watching his behavior, watching how he walked, and how he glanced around the room. Before the unsealing in the forest, his eyes held coldness and a sharp distrust to those around him. Now they were focused and calm, however there was some warmth in those eyes, something Naruto hadn't seen from the black haired boy before. The air was tense while the fights continued, some from Konoha winning, others from other villages winning. Shikamaru bested one of the Otogakure ninja, Kin, and as soon as she was out of the arena a Naruto clone grabbed her and brought her back to his house. He wasn't going to risk her losing her life because he didn't grab her fast enough. Naruto knew Orochimaru was in the audience, and he knew that the creepy snake man was watching Sasuke as if he were prey.

"Naruto Uzumaki and… Kiba Inuzuka!" The proctor called. Naruto smirked, leaping down into the arena with ease. Kiba did the same, setting Akamaru aside for the moment.

"I won't need you to kick his ass Akamaru, so wait until I'm done." Kiba spoke in a manner that suggested he felt superior to Naruto.

"I'm sorry you got stuck with such a stupid underling Akamaru, but I won't hurt him too bad." Naruto chuckled to the dog, who had covered his eyes and ears with his paws.

"This coming from the dead last in the academy?! I can kick your ass blindfolded!" Kiba shouted, getting into a stance. Naruto said nothing in response, however the grin on his face didn't fade at all.

"Fighters ready?" Hayate asked looking between the two genin.

"Begin!" Almost immediately Kiba charged in towards Naruto, faster than he was anticipating however not fast enough as Naruto flicked Kiba away with ease, sending him spiraling into a wall. Spider cracks formed underneath the Inuzuka as he impacted, knocking the wind out of him.

"Oops." Naruto muttered with a smirk, turning to face his stunned opponent. Kiba had hoped that it would be an easy fight. He had held his rivalry with Naruto since their academy days, where they would try and out do each other with the pranks, but because of Kiba's clan status, Naruto got blamed for most of them. Kiba knew that the three genin had gone on a training trip, not long after Naruto returned from his mission to Wave. However he hadn't anticipated not getting Hinata back, and for them to form their own teams. Kiba grit his teeth and launched himself towards Akamaru, and fed him a soldier pill while taking one himself.

"Are you ready for this Naruto?!" Kiba asked as Akamaru shifted into a human form, mirroring Kiba. Naruto raised and eyebrow before putting up his finger, in the universal give-me-a-minute sign. Naruto stripped off his jacket, tossing it up to Hinata who caught it easily despite the weights in it, and then turned to face the canine duo once more.

"Alright now I'm prepared." Naruto smirked, crossed his arms in front of himself and faced the attack head on. What most of the audience didn't realize was that Naruto's skin was as hard as diamonds. Harder even. Shino realized that he was holding his breath as he watched his teammate and companion launch themselves in spinning death spirals towards the unguarded opponent. Hinata was chuckling to herself, as she knew that technique and knew it would do nothing but tear apart Naruto's shirt as it hit him. Most of the Jounin sensei's were distraught as they watched Naruto's "arrogance". Many felt he was even more idiotic than he was before he'd left if he was just standing there and waiting for the attack to maul him.

"Any second now." Naruto muttered, loud enough for Kiba to hear and forcing the other boy to spin even faster in rage at the comment.

"FANG PASSING FANG!" Kibas enraged voice sounded just before he struck Naruto, who allowed himself to be blasted back into the wall. It hurt surprisingly more than Naruto had predicted it would, and he was forced to release some of his scales in order to protect his skin, and as predicted, it caused Naruto's shirt and part of his pants to be torn up in the process. Kiba and Akamaru released their technique, hoping to find a battered Naruto embedded in the wall, however when the other genin stepped out, black and red scales covering some of his skin, and his hair resembling horns, Naruto looked nothing like he was supposed to.

"HOW?! How is it that you were able to withstand one of our more powerful jutsu?!" Kiba demanded, as Akamaru collapsed.

"**My scales cannot be penetrated by something as simple as that. I hate forcing my limiter off. You really did it now.**" Naruto spoke, his voice sounding more like a growl than normal. Kiba stepped back, away from his scary rival, and in a last ditch effort, grabbed Akamaru and tossed him to Kurenai, who would watch over the pup.

"**Smartest thing you've done this whole fight.**" Naruto continued his advance. Kiba blinked, and in that moment Naruto had disappeared. Before he could react, Naruto hit Kiba with an uppercut, launching the boy into the air and followed suit. Once there, Naruto kicked him higher, sending clones up to keep Kiba suspended, while he used some of his clones as spring boards. Naruto reached the already fading Inuzuka, and with a small frown, axe kicked the boy back to the floor. Kiba landed with a resounding crack, as the floor shattered with the force, and a cloud of dust kicked up around them.

"Call it. If he isn't out, then he can't fight anymore. I've broken most of his bones." Naruto called to the proctor, who was coughing because of the dust.

"Winner…Naruto Uzumaki!" With a nod, Naruto proceeded to tear off the remains of his white shirt, and burn them before walking back up to where the other competitors were standing in awe.

"You didn't really have to release your limiter did you." Lee commented, his face stoic however his voice was amused.

"Nope. I wanted to show off." Naruto smiled pleasantly, while some of the genin in the area faceplanted with sweatdrops on their heads. Hinata racked her eyes over the boy in front of her, knowing that she wasn't the only female to do so. Ino felt her face flush powerfully as she glanced at the muscular boy. Naruto had always been somewhat attractive, if only in his face, however now his body and personality definitely matched. She could tell that he'd put a lot of training into it as well, because as she looked closer, she could see faint white scars literally all over him. Temari was in the same boat, marveling at how attractive the younger genin was. Sakura was much worse than all of them however, as she turned as bright as her hair. Ever since her seal had been released she'd stopped fangirling over Sasuke, and tried to train some in the last few days. Her chakra had been sealed as well, so she worked on controlling it better, finally achieving the control she'd had before at the end of the days she was in the tower. Sasuke had been doing the same, and gave her pointers on her taijutsu and that sort, however she was still far behind.

The match between Sakura and Ino ended in a draw, showing that even though Sakura wasn't as weak as before, Ino was still keeping up with her.

"Will Neji Hyuuga and Hinata Hyuuga please step into the ring!" The proctor called. The color drained from Hinata's face. Beating her father was one thing, however her cousin was even stronger than he was, and he'd seen how she fought before.

"You got this." Naruto wrapped his arms around her, having replaced his jacket and pulled her close.

"You are stronger than before. Way stronger." Naruto spoke, while Lee nodded and put his hand on Hinata's shoulder. She took a deep breath and nodded, before removing her own jacket and leaping into the arena.

"The daughter of the main branch against a branch member like me. I should feel proud, shouldn't I. Except, you're a disgrace to the Hyuuga name, and fate has declared that you will lose to me here." Neji spoke, his eyes narrowed and his face was as serious as could be. What he failed to notice however, was through the course of his rant, Hinata was getting more and more angry. She knew that her cousin was arrogant, however this was a new start. She hadn't been subjected to his arrogance in a long long time, and now it pissed her off. The tick mark on her forehead grew as his rant continued, and while Neji didn't notice it, Naruto did.

"Fuck. Lee, a little help." Naruto asked, putting up a barrier in front of some of the stands, especially with the Hokage and the genin. Lee released some of his limiter and launched to the other side of the arena, where some of the Jounin were and stood by them.

"She's pissed off, which is very dangerous, so I warn you to be on your guard." Lee commented once over there.

"So you think I'm a screw up, huh? You think I'm unworthy of being the clan heir, a position already given to Hanabi?" Hinata spoke, her voice an odd calm. Neji smirked and only nodded his head in affirmation before activating his Byakugan. He was focused on Hinata however there was a golden light in the corner of his eye that almost kept him from looking at her. He turned his head slightly and was almost blinded by how bright Naruto was shining. His chakra was an obnoxious gold color, however it also was cycling from his stomach.

"Well, now that I have confirmation that you hate me, cousin, I don't have to hold back." Hinata smiled pleasantly, and glanced at Hayate to call the match start. He did after a moment of hesitation, due to her smile. She looked peaceful, but her words spoke nothing of peace.

"F-fighters ready?" He called, getting a nod from both Hyuuga. Neji started off by attempting to throw Hinata off guard with an 8 trigram 64 palms attack. She wasted no time in breaking his guard and throwing a hard punch straight at his face. Startled by the un-Hyuuga-like attack he couldn't block as she hit him hard enough to throw him into the wall behind him.

"You! You dare use an attack that was not given to you in your training with the Hyuuga?!" Neji demanded, staggering slightly as he pushed himself away from the wall.

"You know, you talk a lot. This is a fight, you shouldn't talk as much. If you have something to say, show it to me with your fighting." Hinata growled out. She had released her limiter slightly and her skin took a slightly blue hue while her hair grew longer. Neji just scoffed and began his attack again, however he was thwarted by another attack from Hinata. This continued until finally he was becoming increasingly annoyed by her behavior, and attempted something uncharacteristic of him. He charged in towards Hinata as she smirked, "seeing" through his taunt, while he went for a left handed juuken strike, his right hand had balled into a fist, charged with chakra and he sent it straight into Hinata's chest while she was distracted by his immediate strike. There was a pause in the air as the strike caused a burst of air around them to kick up the dust. Hinata's smirk slowly fell from her face as she felt the blood rush to her mouth and coughed violently. He'd struck her hard enough to disrupt the blood flow to her heart. She felt herself growing gradually weaker, however she had enough strength to throw one last attack at her cousin. She'd underestimated his anger, and got cocky that she could beat him. It was her failure.

"I should have known, cousin. But you won't be left without something to remember me." And with that, Hinata launched a steady stream of her blue green and purple flames at her cousin, which proceeded to burn his legs, because that was the best she could aim for as she lay collapsed to the ground.

"W-winner…Neji Hyuuga." The proctor called, surprising the group of people who were standing above.

"She didn't take him seriously enough." Lee commented, having returned to Naruto's side, mostly so only Naruto could hear.

"She's his cousin, of course she didn't take him seriously. She hoped that he would give her a chance to explain herself, to explain what happened." Naruto growled, stepping forward as Neji walked closer to the fallen girl.

"You worthless, piece of trash! You never deserved the treatment as the clan heir! You never should have been born!" The usually docile boy shouted, advancing towards her rapidly. As he did so chakra blazed in his eyes and his hands, and it was obvious in that moment that he intended to take her life. Naruto was in between them in an instant, moving faster than even the Jounin were. His hair had sprung to life again taking the form of his scales, as the rage he felt towards his fellow genin forced the limiter, which up until he'd returned to Konoha did what it was intended to do of keeping his powers in check, to release almost fully. His time spent training with the Order of the Sky had been controlled and he'd had no accidental releases from his limiter. His teeth elongated into dangerous and powerful fangs, his eyes blazed a dangerous gold, while scales formed over his body, taking the shape of armor as it fused together. The voice that came out of his mouth was even worse than it had been in his fight with Kiba.

"**You won your fight. If you do not back off I will not hesitate to kill you where you stand**." Naruto's voice sounded demonic, it was deep and powerful and guttural. The growl the emerged from his chest stopped many in their tracks.

"Shit, the only person who can calm him down when he's like that is Hinata, and she's dying next to him." Lee swore, sending a mental message to Ladon to get Andreas.

"She doesn't deserve to be protected. She couldn't even stand up to a branch member like me! If she can't fight how will she survive?! And look! She's almost dead already." Neji bubbled with laughter, at the ridiculousness of the situation and the fact that she was still getting the special treatment. He hadn't considered the damage she did to his legs yet, not feeling the pain that he was inevitably in. Something twinged in the back of his mind, an emotion he'd never really felt, fear. Smoke began to billow out of Naruto's mouth, and Lee knew that he had to step in, or the whole Arena would burn to the ground.

"Neji, you don't understand the gravity of what you just caused. I hope you think about getting rid of that entitled attitude, because if you don't, I won't be able to stop him next time." Lee said to his former teammate, a glare forming on his face as his black eyes shifted to green. Tenten grabbed her male teammate and pulled him away, moving him in a way that obviously hurt his legs as he collapsed to the ground. Lee struggled to pull Naruto away from the arena, watching as the medical ninja's hurriedly placed Hinata on the stretcher and got her out. Once they were outside the building, Ladon charged over, and seeing the state of one of his allies, prepared himself for a fight.

"I would have called Ohen, but I don't have his call, and Naruto is in no state to do so himself. I will assist you, my friend." Lee released his limiter, taking a similar state to Naruto however his mind was clear. An enraged snarl left Naruto's throat as he charged forward, using his claws to attempt to maul and kill both Lee and Ladon, who dodged and began their guerrilla style attack, a technique they developed specifically for fighting Naruto. It took a while to wear the other genin out, long enough for Andreas to arrive and subdue the warrior with little trouble.

"What should I do about him? Or his part in the competition?" Lee asked.

"Do the drawing for him. And go finish your fight." Andreas pat the boy on the shoulder. Lee nodded, watching as Naruto was carried away by his mentor, Leaving Lee to fend for himself. Within moments he was back inside, having sent Ladon home once again, and lined up with Sakura and Sasuke. Both genin were suddenly more agreeable than his former teammates were, and he found he could stand to be around them.

"Next fight, Rock Lee vs…Subaru no Gaara!" Lee felt a slight amount of fear build inside of him, as he watched the other boy jump into the arena. The air around him was the same as before, at least from afar, however as Lee got into the fighting area himself, he realized that the other boy was projecting his KI around him.

"I hope to have a good fight with you." Gaara spoke, his voice soft and calm. Lee nodded, putting a stronger face on and agreed. He hoped that his abilities would help him in his fight, and the strength he'd gained would be enough to combat the relative unknown capabilities of his opponent. Hopefully, he'd come out relatively unscathed.

* * *

That's all of it so far, I have a good place to start for the next one so I don't have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to find one. I hope people enjoy! I don't have a whole lot to say this time around, but thank you to everyone who reviewed positively, and constructively. I appreciate the thoughts from those who read what I write! (As long as it doesn't have anything to do with wishing me bodily harm haha)


	5. Silent Vows

I finally get to put this out! It took me a while to find the inspiration to get this done, but I managed! I hope people don't mind how sort of choppy it is. Also I give Hinata and Naruto a little love, nothing big yet but they are affectionate. It might be a little bit of time before I get another chapter out, I'm a bit behind due to school, but it will happen!

Thanks again to those who enjoy the story!

* * *

Lee took his first stance, and squared off to his opponent, who was shorter than he was, however filled the room with his presence alone.

"Fighters ready? Begin!" Lee started off by throwing punches at Gaara, gauging the reaction time of the sand that inevitably would block his attacks. Mostly, Lee wanted to make sure that the sand would block the other genin before his fire would reach him. Each of team Dragoon's flames had a different property. Hinata's was small, however it would burn almost continuously unless submerged in water. Due to her affinity for water, it made sense. Naruto's flames could burn an entire village to the ground, due to the size of his dragon. However they were average flames, and water or any other suppressant could put them out. The damage would be done however because of the large scale they would cover. Lee's flames, burned at a higher temperature than both of his partners, and they weren't the largest scale of flames but due to how hot they were, Lee himself was a walking forge. He could smelt metal and sand with no difficulties. But his flames were difficult to control outside of the forge, he never knew where they would end up spreading so he rarely used them.

Gaara's sand covered the whole front of his body in anticipation of Lee's attack, which was faster than he'd thought it would be. Lee decided that using some of his flames would help to take out some of the sand, hopefully melting it into glass. Lee sucked in a sharp breath, feeling the smoke billow from his mouth and nose as the fire formed in his lungs, the hot sensation of its combustion, and he breathed out sharply as well, releasing a stream of green fire towards the Suna genin. Gaara's eyes widened almost imperceptibly, however his mind was racing a mile a minute. He knew what that fire would do to his sand, and he knew that should he allow it to hit he'd have less defensive and offensive capabilities. But he could also feel the heat of the flames as they approached, and knew that if he didn't block, he'd be burned badly. Sending as many layers of sand as he could between himself and the flames, Gaara also sent some of the layers to his body, giving himself the coat of armor he normally wore, but stronger.

"I did not wish to do that, however you left me no choice because I cannot reach you with your sand as it was." Lee sighed, another puff of smoke leaving his throat however only as a remnant of what he'd just done. Where Gaara had been standing, and forced to vacate, was a glass formation, with sand running along one side of it, dropping down to the floor. The glass was still hardening, and was red and somewhat green due to the color of Lee's flames.

"I understand. But you have a death wish." Gaara muttered, knowing that in order to fool Orochimaru who was inevitably in the audience, he needed to keep up with the farce of being insane still. Lee jumped forward, sending another strong volley of attacks at Gaara, who had to do his best to block with what little sand he had left.

"Lee-san." Gaara spoke quietly, while Lee lightened the strength of his blows, but kept up the amount and variations.

"What Gaara." Lee responded gruffly because of his constant movement.

"I cannot fail here. In order to fool those who believe that I am still under their control, I must make it to the final round, that was when the invasion was to occur. I do not wish to do you any terrible harm, because you and your team have done so much for me. Please use those scales that you all have over your body, I plan on attempting to crush your arm and leg." Gaara explained. As much as Lee hated to give up on purpose, he knew that he could potentially get promoted to Chuunin another way, and so he released his limiter and made a show of jumping away from Gaara in a scared fashion. The sand darted out behind him, and grabbed his right arm and leg. Lee felt the crushing pressure of the sand, and heard the shout of the jutsu name, realizing that if he didn't have the scale armor, he'd have been wounded worse than he could imagine.

"Sand Coffin!" Gaara's estranged shout filled the air, and Lee couldn't help the cry in pain due to how bad it actually hurt. His arm and leg were broken, that much he knew, and he would be forced to wait to train until he was fully healed. He hated that feeling. Lee had been subjected to that pain many times by his mentor, who thought it appropriate to inform him that no matter how strong his defense was, sometimes attacks make it through. He was glad for that training now, because as he landed on the ground, dropping to the floor he raised his hand into the air.

"I concede. He crushed my arm and leg, I can't fight." Guy, who respected that Lee was no longer limited to just taijutsu, as well as the team switch, picked him up off of the arena floor.

"Mother, I can't bring you blood now. You have to wait mother." Gaara muttered, knowing that even though Ichibi no longer went by mother in his mind no one else knew that and he needed to keep appearances.

"Lee. I am proud of the man you have become. You're youth is strong, and you're passion is inspiring." Guy spoke calmly, however his words still fueled some of Lee's inspiration. Lee smiled, suddenly exhausted. The fights shouldn't have been as difficult as they anticipated, however everyone except Naruto fought fights they never thought they would have had to.

Naruto woke up in his bed, a leather wrist restraint keeping him from moving too far, and he knew why.

"You allowed your emotions to get the better of you, and almost blew your own cover. That is grounds for serious punishment." Andreas spoke, none of the usual amusement in his voice.

"That….child! He would have killed Hinata had I not stepped in." Naruto found that he was still angry, however due to the pain on his back, he figured out why he wasn't transforming.

"I have been forced to add another limiter onto you. This one is not a voluntary release limiter. You must have either Lee-kun or Hinata-chan release you before you can use your abilities like that again." Andreas spoke. Naruto knew that it was the least punishment he could get, because of the gravity of his doing. While each of them had shown their abilities to Konoha, none had gone so far as to show the full extent of a released limiter. Naruto did not showcase all of his abilities, and in fact showed a lot more restraint than Andreas thought he would, considering he'd realized that Naruto would have razed the Hidden Village to the ground should he have felt it necessary.

"I understand." Naruto bowed his head, using his other hand to free the restraint, and stood up.

"I wish to visit Hinata in the hospital." He spoke, pulling his hair back behind his head once again and glanced at his back in the mirror. The dragon was still there, however it was surrounded by chains. He pulled a tank top over his head, leaving his jacket on the bed. He would rather look calmer and less ready to fight on the drop of a hat.

"Lee is there as well, he lost his fight however he did so in a noble fashion, because he willingly gave up for the sake of misleading our foes." Andreas smiled, knowing that Lee was disappointed that he couldn't fight at his strongest.

"I will see to both of them. I cannot believe I allowed them to finish these battles on their own. What kind of warrior am I if I can't even protect my team." Naruto muttered to himself, leaving before he could get an answer from Andreas.

"A young one. Who has yet to face the extreme adversity that has been laid before him." Andreas spoke to himself, turning away to tend to Ohen, who was riled up at the thought of his master feeling conflicted. Naruto made his way to the hospital, ignoring the doctors and nurses that told him to leave, and made his way to where he'd sent Avrae to. He knocked on the door gently, sliding it away to reveal Hinata laying on the bed, with Tsunade standing over her with a glowing green hand over her chest. Neither had noticed him yet, and Hinata looked as though she wanted to say something to the healer.

"If you wish to say something, you might as well tell me." Tsunade sighed, pulling her hand back and cancelling the jutsu.

"How could you abandon those who saw you as their ally in their time of need? Fleeing with one child, and never bothering to check your facts before assuming the other lived as a king. I've watched years of abuse at the hands of the so-called 'villagers' and yet you doubted him when he told you the truth. I do not blame Naruto for not forgiving you as readily as I can tell you assumed he would. Aikiko is similar to how Naruto used to be, readily forgiving and sweet as she can be. That is how you assumed Naruto to be. However when you beat a dog when its young, how can you expect it to be a good pet as it ages? The distrust that Naruto has of everyone was fueled by his abandonment. He doesn't even trust me entirely, and I've been by his side from the very beginning." Hinata spoke, it was obvious that she was in pain through her whole statement. Naruto couldn't see Tsunade's face, however he could see the shaking of her shoulders and he knew that she was crying.

"I cannot repent enough for how little I knew of his life. I know he wants nothing to do with me, or Shizune, and if Jiraiya ever shows his face in this town I know he's going to get it worse than I did. When the Sandaime declared that we were not to speak to Naruto or Aikiko of the event that occurred during their birth, I never imagined it would be so that the abuse of the village would be brushed under the rug. The old man lied to me about how Naruto would be treated, and I foolishly believed him." Tsunade sobbed out, and while Naruto knew Hinata was only putting an indifferent face on so that Tsunade would keep groveling, Naruto felt his heart go out towards the older healer. He could hear the truth in her words, and she was damn right about the toad. If that old man ever showed his face to Naruto he was as good as dead.

"Have you thought to apologize to Naruto? He may not accept it right away, but at least showing that you feel the way you do can move something in the right direction. Running away again is going to piss him off further, and make matters worse. You are one of the Sannin, yet I swear I have to explain things like you're a child." Hinata spoke, turning to face the woman again, this time seeing that Naruto was already in the room.

"I don't know how to tell him how sorry I am. Every time I want to I feel like I shouldn't. I see him and every emotion I feel about my sochi flees my mind! They are like my own children and I can't even face him! I can't tell my own godchild that I love him as much as I do, and that I would bury this village underground for him. Every time I try I fail. I can't stand it." Tsunade sobbed. Hinata's indifference morphed into concern and curiosity.

"You say you feel like you shouldn't. Have you ever met with Danzo?" Hinata asked, knowing that Naruto wondered as well.

"Of course I have, he's the advisor to the Hokage, why wouldn't I have met him." She asked, confused by the question which seemed like it would be obvious.

"Great." Hinata muttered, putting her hand on Tsunade's shoulder.

"Can I get some privacy with you?" Hinata asked, meaning the question to be for Naruto, who nodded and slipped out of the room before the blonde woman could notice. As soon as he'd left the room Hinata asked Tsunade to strip off her shirt.

"No. I refuse to do that." She responded immediately. A moment passed before Tsunade realized what she'd said.

"I…will." She conceded, knowing that something dubious was at work. She pulled the cloth over her head, and Hinata stood up, feeling some pain in her chest as she did, and walked around Tsunade looking for signs of ink. Within a few glances she located what looked like a small shine on the woman's shoulder. It such a place where it wouldn't be easily found.

"Fuck this place. Seriously, fuck this village to hell. As soon as I can I'm getting the fuck out of here." Hinata muttered.

"What? Why?" Tsunade glanced over her shoulder at Hinata.

"You've been sealed with a compulsion seal. One that suggests you to not care about the well-being of Naruto." Hinata sighed, running a hand through her ragged hair. She pulled it out of its ponytail and ran her fingers through it until she was satisfied, then proceeded to braid it behind her head.

"I HAVE WHAT?!" Tsunade's chakra flared. The force behind the chakra was so strong, that within a moment the seal on her back flashed red. Smoke rose off of where it had been, and in its place as a char mark.

"Well, you don't anymore." Hinata spoke, impressed by the show of chakra. Seals were hard to remove from one's self, unless one had potent chakra and enough of it to burn it off. That having been said, if the seal were placed by someone else, with ill intent, it makes it slightly easier to remove.

"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked, glancing at her back once again. The charring had cleared slightly, as the woman had naturally high healing capabilities.

"You literally burned the seal off with your chakra." Hinata explained, lowering herself back into bed.

"You may want to put your shirt back on, Naruto is outside the door." Hinata informed her. Tsunade's eyes widened and she hurriedly put the shirt on, turning as Naruto entered.

"Hinata, how are you feeling?" He asked her, stepping towards her. He wasn't exactly ignoring Tsunade he just hadn't acknowledged her being in there yet. Hinata shrugged while glancing at him.

"Better, now that I've had treatment. It will be about a month before I can train again." Hinata answered, while Naruto sat down on her bed facing her.

"She's a strong girl." Tsunade spoke softly.

"I know she is." Naruto agreed, his voice neutral as he finally addressed the older woman. He knew what had happened in the room, and knew that the war hawk Danzo needed to go.

"Naruto I…" Tsunade started to say, but she couldn't find the words. She had so many things she wanted to say to him, and even with so much, she didn't know where to start.

"Oba-san, I understand. I heard the conversation you and Hinata had before. If you show that what you say is true, I'll start considering forgiving you." Naruto stood and faced her, standing at his full height and looking into the misted brown eyes of the woman who would have been his mother figure. Without warning she lunged forward and wrapped Naruto in a bone-crushing hug. He smiled gently over her shoulder, knowing that she couldn't see him smiling. Hinata felt her eyes tear up, despite how annoyed she'd been with the older blonde. This village had royally screwed up by separating the boy with his surrogate mother. Somewhere in his mind Naruto knew he would forgive Jiraiya as well. He'd heard of the older mans exploits as a spy, and how he'd kept tabs on Naruto until he'd left for training. He hated that he wasn't raised as he was supposed to, but being raised by the hands of a pervert weren't all that appealing either.

"I am going to go speak with Lee, he lost his fight, however it was against Gaara, so we both know why." Naruto spoke, pulling away from the hug and addressing Hinata. Said girl nodded, before turning to a book that was placed by her bedside.

"I need to see that boy about his injuries, so I will accompany you." Tsunade smiled and walked ahead of him, leading to the room his teammate rested in. As they walked, a comfortable silence fell between them. Naruto had never considered being as comfortable with another person as he had been with his team. Their training took them apart for a few years, where they spent time learning strictly their own Orders. The purpose of each of the orders was rather simple. They were to defend the world from otherworldly attacks. Demons, and even angels to some degree. Because of how secretive the group was, none of the rest of the world even knew about these attacks, other than myth or legend. For Naruto, his focus was on defending from the Holy and the Hell Spawn that took to the sky. More often than not these were the tougher opponents, their mobility aided by the use of wings and air. Hinata's focus was those that used water, such as Sirens, merfolk and other legends of the water that threaten humanity. Lee was a member that focused on those who were grounded. He was a tank of a fighter, who could take out tens of hundreds of wandering lesser demons and even the occasional living dead. The world was larger than any in the Elemental Nations thought it was, and because of that, the Rule of the Sky, Rule of the Water, and Order of the Earth came to be. A history lesson that was drilled into Naruto's head as a child.

"You were once a part of Team Kakashi, what came of that?" Tsunade asked.

"I'm surprised you weren't briefed on it. Actually, scratch that, I'm really not. I was on his team up until my training trip a month prior to now. The other genin on the team, Sakura and Sasuke, were both bigots and assholes that, rather than helping me improve, told me to quit because I was dragging them down. I got virtually no training from Kakashi, and what I did get were snide comments when I did something wrong." Naruto shook his head. It was a time he was happy to trade for his current team.

"Where did your training trip take you?" Tsunade continued asking, making conversation. Naruto knew she was just trying to get to know him, which was a step in the right direction.

"A place outside of the Elemental Nations. It doesn't have a name, but I am not just a ninja, as you've seen. The three of us have other duties, apart from what we've dedicated to do here." He shrugged, answering as best as he could without breaking confidentiality.

"I was under the impression that you three were stronger than you were letting on. You are all children, and mistakes happen. I am proud of how you stood up for your own today, even if it got you in trouble." Tsunade smiled at her sochi over her shoulder.

"If there is one thing I got out of being Kakashi's student it was this. Those who break the rules are trash. But those who disregard their comrades so easily are even worse than trash." Naruto spoke, relaying the one thing he'd learned.

"Good words from a bad man. It surprises me to see how far he's fallen." Tsunade shook her head.

"You mean from the days since he was my father's student. I know about my family. I'm angry no one thought to inform me, but I understand. How did Aikiko do in her fight? I'm sad I had to miss it." Naruto asked.

"She won. She is fighting against who ever is the winner of the last match. You are fighting against Hinata-chan's cousin. That little prick was healed not long ago." Tsunade growled. She hated to see such a strong kunoichi degraded by her own family. Naruto felt a spike of anticipation rise in his gut. He knew that Hinata would never accept him killing her family, even if he'd attempted to do the same to her. She was too kind for that. But that didn't mean he couldn't beat him within an inch of his life to teach him a lesson.

Suddenly, the last round of this exam wasn't looking quite so bad.

* * *

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, like I said, I feel like its a bit choppy but otherwise it does the job of filler well I think.

Let me know!


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